Surah Saba (34) — Ayah 8

(Ayah 8) ➊ { اَفْتَرٰى عَلَى اللّٰهِ كَذِبًا … :} That is, his saying that after being reduced to fragments you will be brought to life anew, is not free from two possibilities: either, while being of sound mind and senses, he is deliberately fabricating a lie against Allah Almighty and attributing to Him something He has not said, or he is insane, his mind is deranged, and he says whatever comes to his mind without thinking. [ نَعُوْذُ بِاللّٰہِ مِنْ ذٰلِکَ ]
➋ { بَلِ الَّذِيْنَ لَا يُؤْمِنُوْنَ بِالْاٰخِرَةِ … :} The entire life of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was spent before the Quraysh of Makkah. (See Yunus: 16) Both of these things about him were so baseless that there was no need to refute them, because the truthfulness and trustworthiness of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was accepted by all. (See An'am: 33) As, upon Abu Sufyan's admission that he knew of no incident of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) lying, Heraclius had said: "It is not possible that he would not lie to people, but would then lie against Allah Almighty." [ دیکھیے بخاري : ۷ ] As for the claim of being insane or mad, the perfection of his intellect was evident to both friends and foes, so Allah Almighty said, neither of these two things is true; the real matter is that those who deny the Hereafter are acting out of ignorance and foolishness, and do not even try to reach the depth of the matter through reflection, because of which they have strayed far from the truth and the straight path, and are walking on a path that will lead them straight to the punishment of Hell. Instead, they are calling the one who walks the straight path a liar or insane.

8. 1 That is, one of two things must be true: either he is lying, and his claim of revelation and prophethood from Allah is a fabrication against Allah, or his mind has become unbalanced and in madness he is saying such things that are irrational.

8. 2 Allah Almighty said, the matter is not as they assume, rather the reality is that it is these people who are devoid of intellect, understanding, and perception of realities, due to which they deny the Hereafter instead of believing in it, the result of which is the eternal punishment of the Hereafter, and today they are involved in such misguidance that is extremely far from the truth.

"Does he invent a lie against Allah, or is he afflicted with madness [10]?" No [11], rather those who do not believe in the Hereafter are the ones who are in punishment and have strayed far into error.

[10]
The Disagreement of the Disbelievers of Makkah with the Muslims in Three Matters of Belief:

The disbelievers of Makkah could not call you a liar, because this was contrary to their lifelong experience. But they were also not willing to accept your message. There were three things in the message of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that were unpleasant to them or in which they did not believe.
(1) They did not believe in the destruction of this earth and sky or the universe. In other words, they did not believe in the establishment of the Day of Judgment.
(2) They also did not believe in resurrection after death. That is, when a person dies and mixes with the soil and becomes dust, according to their view, his being brought back to life was among the impossibilities.
(3) As a result, they also did not believe in the reward and punishment of the Hereafter. Therefore, instead of binding themselves to the commands of Allah in their worldly life, they preferred to remain free. Whenever these people mocked, it was about these matters, and especially the first two points they would often repeat in different ways. In this verse, the tone of their question is mocking. They thought that this Prophet’s message could not be empty-handed: either he is fabricating lies against Allah, or his mind has failed him.

[11]
The Council of Consultation at the House of Walid bin Mughirah:

They themselves did not consider either of these two possibilities to be correct, and the chiefs of Quraysh, even in their private conversations, could not be satisfied with these possibilities, nor could they satisfy each other. The requirement of your truthfulness was that a person who does not lie to people, how could he lie about Allah? And the idea of madness was even more far-fetched. When these same chiefs of Quraysh gathered at the house of Walid bin Mughirah, the topic under discussion was how they could stop the message of this Prophet and what they could say to people about him. One chief said that they could tell others that he is mad. But Walid bin Mughirah, the chief of Quraysh, said: “By Allah! He is not mad. We have seen madmen; he has none of the suffocating fits of madmen, nor any strange movements, nor any incoherent speech like theirs.” Walid bin Mughirah’s answer was also only a negative rejection of madness, because he too was your enemy ﷺ. Whereas the reality was that anyone unfamiliar with your dealings with others, your high character, and your rational arguments and speech could easily estimate your greatness as a human being. The idea of madness was out of the question. Allah Almighty, among the three points of the disbelievers, especially declared the third point as the real reason for their denial, saying that these people do not deny the Hereafter because they do not understand or cannot understand its proofs. Rather, the real reason is that they fear the reckoning of the Hereafter, and they think that by closing their eyes like a pigeon, the cat will disappear by itself. They themselves have closed their eyes to the facts and to facing them bravely. And with this approach, they are continuously moving forward.