(79) “So woe to those who write the Scripture with their own hands and then say, ‘This is from Allah,’ in order to exchange it for a paltry price. Woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they earn.”

Allah Most High threatens those who distort the Scripture and say of their distortions and writings, “This is from Allah.” This entails displaying falsehood and concealing the truth. They did so knowingly, solely “to exchange it for a paltry price,” although this entire world, from beginning to end, is but a paltry price. They thus made their falsehood into a snare with which to catch what people possessed. They wronged people in two ways: by confusing their religion for them, and by taking their wealth without right—indeed, through the basest of falsehoods. This is worse than taking it by forcible seizure, theft, or the like. Allah therefore threatens them for both offenses, saying, “Woe to them for what their hands have written”—that is, their distortions and falsehoods—“and woe to them for what they earn,” namely, wealth. Wayl means severe punishment and bitter regret, and it carries an intense threat.

Shaykh al-Islām said, when discussing these verses from His words, “Do you then hope,” through “what they earn”:

“Allah condemned those who distort words from their proper places. This includes anyone who construes the Book and the Sunnah according to false innovations that he has himself established as principles.

He also condemned those who know the Scripture only through mere recitation. This includes anyone who abandons reflection on the Quran and knows nothing beyond simply reciting its letters. It also includes anyone who writes with his own hand a book that contradicts the Book of Allah in order to obtain some worldly gain, and then claims that it is from Allah. This is like saying: ‘This is the revealed law and religion; this is the meaning of the Book and the Sunnah; this is the rational doctrine of the early generations and the leading scholars; and this constitutes the foundations of religion, belief in which is obligatory both individually and communally.’ It also includes anyone who conceals the knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah that he possesses, lest his opponent cite it against him as proof of the truth that the opponent is asserting.

⦗57⦘

These practices are exceedingly common among entire groups of the followers of vain desires, such as the Rāfidah, and among individuals, such as many of those affiliated with the jurists.”