Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 16 An-Nahl, Ayat 116-116

وَلَا تَقُوۡلُوۡا لِمَا تَصِفُ اَلۡسِنَـتُكُمُ الۡكَذِبَ هٰذَا حَلٰلٌ وَّهٰذَا حَرَامٌ لِّـتَفۡتَرُوۡا عَلَى اللّٰهِ الۡكَذِبَ​ؕ اِنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ يَفۡتَرُوۡنَ عَلَى اللّٰهِ الۡكَذِبَ لَا يُفۡلِحُوۡنَؕ‏ ﴿16:116﴾

(16:116) And do not utter falsehoods by letting your tongues declare: "This is lawful"116 and "That is unlawful," thus fabricating lies against Allah. Surely those who fabricate lies against Allah will never prosper.


Notes

116. This verse clearly shows that none but Allah has the right to declare a thing to be lawful or unlawful. Or, in other words, the right of making laws exclusively rests with Allah. Therefore, any person who will dare to decide about the lawful and the unlawful will transgress his powers. Of course, a person, who acknowledges the divine law as the final authority, may deduce from it whether a certain thing or action is lawful or unlawful.

The arrogation of the right of determining the lawful and the unlawful has been declared to be a falsehood on Allah for two reasons:

(1) Such a person, so to say, claims that what he declares to be lawful or unlawful, disregarding the authority of the divine Book, has been made lawful or unlawful by God.

(2) He means to claim that Allah has given up the authority of making lawful and unlawful and has thus left man free to make his own laws for the conduct of life. It is obvious that each of these claims will be a falsehood and a false imputation to Allah.