Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 6 Al-An'am, Ayat 19-19

قُلۡ اَىُّ شَىۡءٍ اَكۡبَرُ شَهَادَةً  ؕ قُلِ اللّٰهُ ​ۙ شَهِيۡدٌ ۢ بَيۡنِىۡ وَبَيۡنَكُمۡ​ وَاُوۡحِىَ اِلَىَّ هٰذَا الۡـقُرۡاٰنُ لِاُنۡذِرَكُمۡ بِهٖ وَمَنۡۢ بَلَغَ​ ؕ اَـئِنَّكُمۡ لَـتَشۡهَدُوۡنَ اَنَّ مَعَ اللّٰهِ اٰلِهَةً اُخۡرٰى​ؕ قُلْ لَّاۤ اَشۡهَدُ​ ۚ قُلۡ اِنَّمَا هُوَ اِلٰـهٌ وَّاحِدٌ وَّاِنَّنِىۡ بَرِىۡٓءٌ مِّمَّا تُشۡرِكُوۡنَ​ۘ‏ ﴿6:19﴾

(6:19) Ask them: 'Whose testimony is the greatest?' Say: 'Allah is the witness between me and you;11 and this Qur'an was revealed to me that I should warn you thereby and also whomsoever it may reach.' Do you indeed testify that there are other gods with Allah?12 Say: 'I shall never testify such a thing.' 13 Say: 'He is the One God and I am altogether averse to all that you associate with Him in His divinity.'


Notes

11. God Himself witnesses that the Prophet (peace be on him) has been designated by Him and that what he communicated was by His command.

12. In order to bear witness to something, mere guesswork and imagination are not sufficient. What is required is knowledge on the basis of which a person can state something with full conviction. Hence. the question means: Did they really have knowledge of anyone other than God who could lay claim to man's worship and absolute service by dint of being the omnipotent sovereign, the one whose will prevailed throughout the universe?

13. The interlocutor is instructed to tell people that if they wanted to bear false witness and testify without knowledge, they could do so, but that he himself could not do something so unreasonable.