`Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said: "This means) do not say
(anything of which you have no knowledge).'' Al-`Awfi said: "Do not accuse
anyone of that of which you have no knowledge.'' Muhammad bin Al-Hanafiyyah
said: "It means bearing false witness.'' Qatadah said: "Do not say, `I have
seen', when you did not see anything, or `I have heard', when you did not hear
anything, or `I know', when you do not know, for Allah will ask you about all of
that.'' In conclusion, what they said means that Allah forbids speaking without
knowledge and only on the basis of suspicion, which is mere imagination and
illusions. As Allah says:
[اجْتَنِبُواْ
كَثِيراً مِّنَ الظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ]
(Avoid much suspicion; indeed some suspicions are sins.) [49:12] According to
a Hadith:
«إِيَّاكُمْ
وَالظَّنَّنَفَإِنَّ الظَّنَّ أَكْذَبُ الْحَدِيث»
(Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the falsest of speech.) The following
Hadith is found in Sunan Abu Dawud:
«بِئْسَ مَطِيَّةُ
الرَّجُلِ: زَعَمُوا»
(What an evil habit it is for a man to say, `They claimed...') According to
another Hadith:
«إِنَّ أَفْرَى
الْفِرَى أَنْ يُرِيَ الرَّجُلُ عَيْنَيْهِ مَا لَمْ تَرَيَا»
(The worst of lies is for a man to claim to have seen something that he has
not seen.) In the Sahih it says:
«مَنْ تَحَلَّمَ
حُلْمًا كُلِّفَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَنْ يَعْقِدَ بَيْنَ شَعِيرَتَيْنِ وَلَيْسَ
بِفَاعِل»
(Whoever claims to have seen a dream (when he has not seen) will be told on
the Day of Resurrection to make a knot between two barley grains, and he will
not be able to do it.)
[كُلُّ
أُولـئِكَ]
(each of those ones) means these faculties, hearing, sight and the heart,
[كَانَ عَنْهُ
مَسْؤُولاً]
(will be questioned.) means, the person will be asked about them on the Day
of Resurrection, and they will be asked about him and what he did with them.
[وَلاَ تَمْشِ فِى
الاٌّرْضِ مَرَحًا إِنَّكَ لَن تَخْرِقَ الاٌّرْضَ وَلَن تَبْلُغَ الْجِبَالَ
طُولاً - كُلُّ ذَلِكَ كَانَ سَيِّئُهُ عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ مَكْرُوهًا ]
(37. And walk not on the earth with conceit and arrogance. Verily, you can
neither rend nor penetrate the earth nor can you attain a stature like the
mountains in height.) (38. All the bad aspects of these (the above mentioned
things) are hateful to your Lord.)