Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Baqarah Verse 42

Mufti Taqi Usmani

and do not confound truth with falsehood, and do not hide the truth when you know (it).

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

Do not mix truth with falsehood or hide the truth knowingly.

Ruwwad Translation Center

And do not mix the truth with falsehood, nor conceal the truth knowingly.

A. J. Arberry

And do not confound the truth with vanity, and do not conceal the truth wittingly.

Abdul Haleem

Do not mix truth with falsehood, or hide the truth when you know it.

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

And confound not the truth with falsehood, nor hide the truth while ye know.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And cover not Truth with falsehood, nor conceal the Truth when ye know (what it is).

Abul Ala Maududi

Confound not the Truth with falsehood nor conceal it knowingly.

Ahmed Ali

Do not confuse truth with falsehood, nor conceal the truth knowingly.

Ahmed Raza Khan

And do not mix the truth with falsehood, nor purposely conceal the truth.

Ali Quli Qarai

Do not mix the truth with falsehood, nor conceal the truth while you know.

Ali Ünal

Do not confound the truth by mixing it with falsehood, and do not conceal the truth while you know (the meaning and outcome of what you do, and that what you strive to hide is true, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, whose coming you have been anticipating).

Amatul Rahman Omar

Do not confound the truth with falsehood, nor conceal the truth knowingly.

English Literal

And do not confuse/mix/cover the correct/truth with the falsehood, and you hide/conceal the correct/truth and you are knowing.

Faridul Haque

And do not mix the truth with falsehood, nor purposely conceal the truth.

Hamid S. Aziz

Cloak not truth with vanity and falsehood, nor knowingly hide the truth.

Hilali & Khan

And mix not truth with falsehood, nor conceal the truth [i.e. Muhammad Peace be upon him is Allah's Messenger and his qualities are written in your Scriptures, the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel)] while you know (the truth).

Maulana Mohammad Ali

And mix not up truth with falsehood, nor hide the truth while you know.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And do not mix up the truth with the falsehood, nor hide the truth while you know (it).

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

Confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal the truth.

Muhammad Sarwar

Do not mix truth with falsehood and do not deliberately hide the truth

Qaribullah & Darwish

Do not confound truth with falsehood, nor knowingly hide the truth while you know.

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And mix not truth with falsehood, nor conceal the truth while you know (the truth).

Wahiduddin Khan

Do not mix truth with falsehood, or hide the truth when you know it.

Talal Itani

And do not mix truth with falsehood, and do not conceal the truth while you know.

Tafsir jalalayn

And do not obscure, confuse, the truth, that I have revealed to you, with falsehood, that you fabricate; and do not conceal the truth, the description of Muhammad (s), wittingly, that is, knowing it to be the truth.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

The Prohibition of hiding the Truth and distorting It with Falsehood

Allah forbade the Jews from intentionally distorting the truth with falsehood and from hiding the truth and spreading falsehood,

وَلَا تَلْبِسُواْ الْحَقَّ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُواْ الْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ



And mix not truth with falsehood, nor conceal the truth while you know (the truth).

So Allah forbade them from two things;

He ordered them to make the truth known, as well as explaining it.

Ad-Dahhak said that Ibn Abbas mentioned the Ayah,
وَلَا تَلْبِسُواْ الْحَقَّ بِالْبَاطِلِ
(And mix not truth with falsehood) and said;

"Do not mix the truth with falsehood and the facts with lies."

Qatadah said that,
وَلَا تَلْبِسُواْ الْحَقَّ بِالْبَاطِلِ
(And mix not truth with falsehood) means,

"Do not mix Judaism and Christianity with Islam,
وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
(while you know (the truth), that the religion of Allah is Islam, and that Judaism and Christianity are innovations that did not come from Allah."

It was reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basri said similarly.

Also, Muhammad bin Ishaq narrated that Ibn Abbas said that,
وَتَكْتُمُواْ الْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
(nor conceal the truth while you know (the truth),

means, "Do not hide the knowledge that you have of My Messenger and what he was sent with. His description, which you know about, can be found written in the Books that you have."

It is possible that it means,

"..although you know the tremendous harm that this evil will cause people, misguiding them and leading them to the Fire, because they will follow the falsehood that you mixed with the truth in your claims."

وَأَقِيمُواْ الصَّلَةَ وَاتُواْ الزَّكَاةَ وَارْكَعُواْ مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ