Al-Najm – Verse 12

أَفَتُمارونَهُ عَلىٰ ما يَرىٰ

Will you then dispute with him about what he saw?!

EXPOSITION

This verse is addressed to the Meccan idolaters, and the pronoun him is referring to the Prophet. It is saying in a sense that argumentation and disputation are things that might be appropriate for matters of opinion, but they are not correctly applied to things which are undeniably observed. The Prophet informed them of what he had seen, not about some ideas or concepts that had occurred to him.[1]

This is a very important point, and it is returned to again in verses 19-23 and 27-28, where the polytheists are challenged whether they have any such comparable first-hand testimony and actual knowledge to corroborate their own claims. This point is relevant to contemporary issues, whereby many hold views and beliefs based on flimsy claims made by others online or in social media. Facts cannot be challenged by simple opinion.

[1] Mizan, 19/30-31.