Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Anfal Verse 31

Mufti Taqi Usmani

When Our verses are recited to them, they say, “We have heard; if we wish, we can compose a discourse like this. It is nothing but the tales of the ancient people.”

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

Whenever Our revelations are recited to them, they challenge ˹you˺, “We have already heard ˹the recitation˺. If we wanted, we could have easily produced something similar. This ˹Quran˺ is nothing but ancient fables!”

Ruwwad Translation Center

When Our verses are recited to them, they say, “We have heard. If we wished, we could say something like this. This is nothing but ancient fables.”

A. J. Arberry

And When Our signs were being recited to them, they said, 'We have already heard; if we wished, we could say the like of this; this is naught but the fairy-tales of the ancients.'

Abdul Haleem

Whenever Our Revelation is recited to them they say, ‘We have heard all this before- we could say something like this if we wanted- this is nothing but ancient fables.’

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

And when Our revelations are rehearsed unto them, they say: we have heard; we could if we willed, surely say something the like thereof; naught is this but fables of the ancients.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

When Our Signs are rehearsed to them, they say; "We have heard this (before); if we wished, we could say (words) like these; these are nothing but tales of the ancients."

Abul Ala Maududi

And when Our verses are recited to them, they say: 'We have heard. We could, if we willed, compose the like of it. They, are nothing but fables of the ancient times.'

Ahmed Ali

When Our messages were read out to them, they said: "We have heard. We could certainly compose (writings) like them if we choose. They are but only tales of long ago."

Ahmed Raza Khan

And when Our verses are recited to them they say, “Yes, we have heard – if we wanted we could also say something like this – these are nothing but stories of former people!”

Ali Quli Qarai

When Our signs are recited to them, they say, ‘We have heard already. If we want, we [too] can say like this. These are nothing but myths of the ancients.’

Ali Ünal

When Our Revelations are recited to them, they say: "We have heard (the like of this before many times); if we wish, we can speak the like of this; this is nothing but fables of the ancients."

Amatul Rahman Omar

And when Our verses are recited to them they say, `We have already heard (them before). If we so wish, we could certainly compose the like of this. These are nothing but fables of the former peoples.´

English Literal

And when Our evidences/verses are read/recited on them, they said: "We had heard/listened, and if we116want/will we would have said similar/equal (to) that, that that (is) except the firsts`/beginners` myths/baseless stories ."

Faridul Haque

And when Our verses are recited to them they say, "Yes, we have heard - if we wanted we could also say something like this - these are nothing but stories of former people!"

Hamid S. Aziz

But when Our verses were recited to them they said, "We have already heard. If We pleased We could speak like this; verily, this is nothing but tales of ancient folk."

Hilali & Khan

And when Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to them, they say: "We have heard this (the Quran); if we wish we can say the like of this. This is nothing but the tales of the ancients."

Maulana Mohammad Ali

And when those who disbelieved devised plans against thee that they might confine thee or slay thee or drive thee away -- and they devised plans and Allah, too, had arranged a plan; and Allah is the best of planners.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And when Our communications are recited to them, they say: We have heard indeed; if we pleased we could say the like of it; this is nothing but the stories of the ancients.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

And when Our revelations are recited unto them they say: We have heard. If we wish we can speak the like of this. Lo! this is naught but fables of the men of old.

Muhammad Sarwar

When Our revelations are recited to them (the unbelievers), they say, "We have heard them. Had we wanted, we could also have composed such statements; they are no more than ancient legends."

Qaribullah & Darwish

Whenever Our verses are recited to them, they say: 'We have heard them, if we wished, we could speak its like. They are but tales of the ancients'

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And when Our Ayat are recited to them, they say: "We have heard (the Qur'an); if we wish we can say the like of this. This is nothing but the tales of the ancients."

Wahiduddin Khan

Whenever Our revelations are recited to them, they say, "We have heard them. If we wished, we could produce the like. They are nothing but the fables of the ancients."

Talal Itani

And when Our revelations are recited to them, they say, “We have heard. Had we wanted, we could have said the like of this; these are nothing but myths of the ancients.”

Tafsir jalalayn

And when Our verses, namely, the Qur'n, were being recited to them, they said, `We have already heard! If we wish we can speak the like of this -- al-Nadr b. al-Hrith said this, for he used to travel on trading business to al-Hra, where he would buy books containing the tales of the Persians, and would recount these to the Meccans; this, Qur'n, is nothing but the fables, the lies, of the ancients'.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

The Quraysh claimed They can produce Something similar to the Qur'an

Allah tells;

وَإِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ ايَاتُنَا قَالُواْ قَدْ سَمِعْنَا لَوْ نَشَاء لَقُلْنَا مِثْلَ هَـذَا إِنْ هَـذَا إِلاَّ أَسَاطِيرُ الاوَّلِينَ



And when Our Ayat are recited to them, they say;"We have heard (the Qur'an); if we wish we can say the like of this.

Allah describes the disbelief, transgression, rebellion, as well as misguided statements that the pagans of Quraysh used to utter when they heard Allah's Ayat being recited to them,
قَدْ سَمِعْنَا لَوْ نَشَاء لَقُلْنَا مِثْلَ هَـذَا
("We have heard (the Qur'an); if we wish we can say the like of this)."

They boasted with their words, but not with their actions. They were challenged several times to bring even one chapter like the Qur'an, and they had no way to meet this challenge. They only boasted in order to deceive themselves and those who followed their falsehood.

It was said that;

An-Nadr bin Al-Harith, may Allah curse him, was the one who said this, according to Sa`id bin Jubayr, As-Suddi, Ibn Jurayj and others.

An-Nadr visited Persia and learned the stories of some Persian kings, such as Rustum and Isphandiyar. When he went back to Makkah, He found that the Prophet was sent from Allah and reciting the Qur'an to the people. Whenever the Prophet would leave an audience in which An-Nadr was sitting, An-Nadr began narrating to them the stories that he learned in Persia, proclaiming afterwards, "Who, by Allah, has better tales to narrate, I or Muhammad?"

When Allah allowed the Muslims to capture An-Nadr in Badr, the Messenger of Allah commanded that his head be cut off before him, and that was done, all thanks are due to Allah.

The meaning of,
إِلاَّ أَسَاطِيرُ الاوَّلِين
(. ..tales of the ancients) is that;

the Prophet has plagiarized and learned books of ancient people, and this is what he narrated to people, as they claimed.

This is the pure falsehood that Allah mentioned in another Ayah,

وَقَالُواْ أَسَـطِيرُ الاٌّوَّلِينَ اكْتَتَبَهَا فَهِىَ تُمْلَى عَلَيْهِ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلً

قُلْ أَنزَلَهُ الَّذِى يَعْلَمُ السِّرَّ فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفُوراً رَّحِيماً

And they say;"Tales of the ancients, which he has written down;, and they are dictated to him morning and afternoon."

Say;"It (this Qur'an) has been sent down by Him (Allah) Who knows the secret of the heavens and the earth. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (25;5-6)

for those who repent and return to Him, He accepts repentance from them and forgives them.
The Idolators ask for Allah's Judgment and Torment!

Allah said,

وَإِذْ قَالُواْ اللَّهُمَّ إِن كَانَ هَـذَا هُوَ الْحَقَّ مِنْ عِندِكَ فَأَمْطِرْ عَلَيْنَا حِجَارَةً مِّنَ السَّمَاء أَوِ ايْتِنَا بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ