—who inspire one another with ornate words of deception; and had your Lord willed, they would not have done so. So leave them and what they fabricate.” (al-Anʿām 6:113)

He, exalted be He, thus informs us that they aid one another in opposing the prophets’ commands by adorning their speech—each embellishing it for the other—so that the simpletons (1) and the weak-minded are beguiled by it. In this way the verse points out both the active cause and the receptive capacity. He then, glorified is He, depicts how those ignorant souls are affected: they lend it a willing ear, incline toward it (2), and are content with it because of the gilding with which it has been clothed, a finery that deceives the listener. Once they have listened to it and approved of it, they perpetrate—both in word and in deed—the falsehood to which it calls.

Reflect on these verses and the profound meaning they contain: they expose the roots of falsehood and ⦗ق 24 أ⦘ warn of the points where caution is required so that one is not duped by it.

When you scrutinize the pronouncements of the people of falsehood you will find that they have draped them in pleasing expressions and chosen for them polished words that win quick acceptance from anyone whose insight is not penetrating—and the majority of people are like that. Indeed, (3) the libertines (4) even label the gravest forms of debauchery with names that do not jar the ear but rather attract the inclination: they call wine—the mother of every abomination—“the mother of festivities”; they dub the cursed morsel (5) “the bite of remembrance and reflection that (6) arouses dormant resolve toward the loftiest stations”; and they give to gatherings of depravity