As in many other passages of the Qur'an, the use of the term "parable" (mathal) im­mediately or shortly after a description of men's condition - whether good or bad - in the hereafter is meant to remind us that all such descriptions relate to something that is "beyond the reach of a created being's perception" (al-ghayb), and cannot, therefore, be conveyed to man otherwise than by means of allegories or parables expressed in terms of human experience and therefore accessible, in a general sense, to human imagination.

Lit., "without any deviousness (iwaj)", i.e., which could obscure its meaning: see note 1 on 18:1, where this term occurs in a slightly different phrasing. As regards the stress on the formulation of this divine writ "in the Arabic tongue", see 12:2, 13:37, 14:4 and 41:44, as well as the corresponding notes.

Lit., "with regard to whom there are [several] partners (shuraka')", i.e., as masters: a metaphor for belief in a plurality of divine powers.

The term mathal, which is usually rendered by me as "parable" (e.g., at the beginning of this verse as well as in verse 27), primarily denotes a "likeness", i.e., of one thing to another; but sometimes it is used tropically as a synonym for sifah (the "quality", "intrinsic attribute" or "nature" of a thing) or halah (its "state" or "condition"). In the present instance, the last­ mentioned of these meanings is most appropriate, inasmuch as it alludes to man's condition arising from either of two contrasting attitudes: a belief in God's transcendental oneness and uniqueness, on the one hand, and a readiness to ascribe divine powers and qualities to a variety of created beings or supposed "incarnations" of God, on the other.

In this instance, the "inventing of lies about God" alludes to the attribution of a share in His divinity to anyone or anything beside Him, whether it be a belief in a plurality of deities, or in an imaginary "incarnation" of God in human form, or in saints allegedly endowed with semi-divine powers.

Lit., "Is not in hell an abode, etc.: a rhetorical question indicating, firstly, that otherworldly suffering is the unavoidable destiny -symbolically, "an abode" - of all such sinners; and, secondly, that in the concept and picture of "hell" we are given an allegory of that self-caused suffering.

Or: "instead of Him". This relates not merely to false deities, but also to saints alive or dead, and even to certain abstract concepts which the popular mind endows with charismatic qualities - like wealth, power, social status, national or racial pre-eminence, the idea of man's "self- sufficiency", etc. - and, finally, to all false values which are allowed to dominate man's thoughts and desires. The godless always stress the supposed necessity of paying attention to all these imaginary forces and values, and frighten themselves and their fellow-men by the thought that a neglect to do so might have evil consequences in their practical life.

See 43:3.

Can a person who peacefully surrenders only to the Truth be the same as the one who surrenders to many contradictory authorities such as saints, imams, mujtahids, scholars, sheiks, hadith books, sectarian jurisprudence, fatwas?

7:158, 12:3, 13:37, 14:4, 25:1, 39:28, 41:3, 42:7

The majority of people fails to grasp a simple rule: Belief in Monotheism confers unity among mankind as one single community since their Creator is One. 12:39

What counts is how people live their lives

Kufr = Denying or opposing the truth, choosing to live in the darkness of ignorance, living without Divine guidance, being ungrateful, concealing the truth

Note that the statements in this verse and the preceding one allude to the messenger and the recipients of the message

He who follows what God has declared to be wrong, goes astray. 39:23