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wa-la-ʾin saʾaltahum la-yaqūlunna ʾinnamā kunnā nakhūḍu wa-nalʿabu qul ʾa-bi-llāhi wa-ʾāyātihī wa-rasūlihī kuntum tastahziʾūna
If you question them [regarding their conduct], they will surely say, ‘We were just gossiping and amusing ourselves.’ Say, ‘Were you deriding Allah, His signs, and His apostles?
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah At-Tawbah – Verse 65
65 . “And if you question them (regarding their mockery), they will certainly say: ‘We were only discoursing and sporting.’ Say: “Were you mocking Allah, His signs, and His Messenger?”
The Arabic term /xaud/ means ‘to step in mud’, but it is used in the Qur’ān with the meaning of ‘starting some indecent actions.’ This verse, again, concerns the Battle of Tabūk when the hypocrites intended to kill the Prophet (S) in his return from that battle. One of those hypocrites had said what they would do if their plot was divulged. Another of them said that they could pretend it was a jesting. Their statement was a clamsy excuse.10 Now, the question is whether it is possible to joke anything, even Allah, the Prophet, and the verses of the Qur’ān.
Was the subject of startling the Prophet’s camel and his fall from that dangerous neck of land something that could be covered under the mask of jesting? The verse says:
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