Surah Ash-Shura (42) — Ayah 16

(Ayah 16) ➊ {وَ الَّذِيْنَ يُحَآجُّوْنَ فِي اللّٰهِ مِنْۢ بَعْدِ …: ’’ دَاحِضَةٌ ‘‘ ’’دَحَضَ يَدْحَضُ دَحْضًا و دُحُوْضًا ‘‘} (F) {’’دَحَضَتِ الْحُجَّةُ‘‘} The invalidity of the argument and the slipping of the foot. {’’دَحَضَتِ الرِّجْلُ‘‘} also means dispute and also argument. In the previous verse it was said: « لَا حُجَّةَ بَيْنَنَا وَ بَيْنَكُمْ » that "there is no dispute between us and you," because the truth was conveyed to you, now there is no benefit in arguing. In this verse it is said that when Allah's word has been accepted, its truth has become clear, so much so that many intelligent people have accepted it and many have acknowledged it in their hearts, yet people are still arguing about Allah without reason and, in their opinion, are bringing very strong arguments. Sometimes they argue about His oneness, as He said: « اَجَعَلَ الْاٰلِهَةَ اِلٰهًا وَّاحِدًا » [ صٓ : ۵ ] "Has he made all the gods into one God?" Sometimes they argue about His power to resurrect, as He said: «مَنْ يُّحْيِ الْعِظَامَ وَ هِيَ رَمِيْمٌ » [ یٰسٓ : ۷۸ ] "Who will give life to the bones when they are decayed?" Sometimes they argue about Him sending a human as a Messenger, as He said: « وَ قَالُوْا مَالِ هٰذَا الرَّسُوْلِ يَاْكُلُ الطَّعَامَ وَ يَمْشِيْ فِي الْاَسْوَاقِ » [الفرقان : ۷ ] "And they said, 'What is with this Messenger that he eats food and walks in the markets?'" Sometimes, to justify making partners with Him, they declare their deities as intercessors with Allah and as those who bring them near to Him, as He said: « هٰۤؤُلَآءِ شُفَعَآؤُنَا عِنْدَ اللّٰهِ» [ یونس : ۱۸ ] "These are our intercessors with Allah." And He said: « مَا نَعْبُدُهُمْ اِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُوْنَاۤ اِلَى اللّٰهِ زُلْفٰى» [ الزمر : ۳ ] "We do not worship them except that they may bring us nearer to Allah." All these and similar supposed arguments of theirs are invalid and useless in the sight of Allah; they will gain nothing from this dispute.
➋ The tanween on { وَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ: ’’ غَضَبٌ ‘‘} is for magnification, meaning upon them is a great wrath.
➌ { وَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيْدٌ:} whose manifestation in this world was the fear imposed on the people of Makkah, famine, the Battle of Badr, and in other encounters, and whose severity on the Day of Resurrection was narrated by Nu'man bin Bashir (may Allah be pleased with them both) from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [ إِنَّ أَهْوَنَ أَهْلِ النَّارِ عَذَابًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ لَرَجُلٌ تُوْضَعُ فِيْ أَخْمَصِ قَدَمَيْهِ جَمْرَةٌ يَغْلِيْ مِنْهَا دِمَاغُهُ ] [ بخاري، الرقاق، باب صفۃ الجنۃ والنار : ۶۵۶۱ ] "On the Day of Resurrection, the person among the people of the Fire with the lightest punishment will be the one in the soles of whose feet a burning coal will be placed, from which his brain will boil."

16. 1. That is, these polytheists argue and fight with the Muslims, who have accepted the word of Allah and His Messenger, in order to turn them away from the path of guidance. Or it refers to the Jews and Christians who used to argue with the Muslims and say that our religion is better than your religion and our prophet came before your prophet, therefore we are better than you.

Those who argue about Allah after He has been acknowledged, their argument is invalid with their Lord [25]. Upon them is Allah’s wrath, and for them is a severe punishment.

[25]
The Literal Meaning of ﴿دحض﴾:

In this verse, instead of ﴿حُجَّةٌ﴾, the word ﴿دَاحِضَةٌ﴾ has been used, and in the meaning of "dahd" three things are found: (1) slipping, (2) becoming weak, (3) vanishing.
And it is derived from "dahada rajulu," which means that the foot stumbled and slipped from its place, and in the meaning of "dahida," it is such an argument that cannot stand on its own feet against the truth, slips, becomes weak, and vanishes, that is, a vanishing and baseless argument.
In Makkah, if someone became Muslim, his polytheist friends and relatives would relentlessly pursue him, arguing and fighting with him to the point of distress, and would force him to leave Islam and rejoin their ancestral religion. This was the individual situation, and the collective situation was that despite the opposition and torment of the disbelievers, Islam was spreading and the number of Muslims was increasing day by day.
To deal with this situation, the disbelievers united and came out into the field, and to stop this call, sometimes threats, sometimes temptations, sometimes compromise, sometimes complete boycott, sometimes mockery and ridicule, and sometimes baseless objections and arguments were being used.
Regarding this situation, Allah Almighty said that when the serious and intelligent class, being influenced by the arguments of Islam, has believed in its truth and has accepted the oneness of Allah with insight, then now the quarrels of the disbelievers are futile and useless. Whatever they may try, Allah will never let their schemes succeed, and the truth will remain exalted. However, the more force they use to suppress the truth, the more Allah's wrath will blaze against them, and the more severe punishment will be given to them.