of His words—yet none can alter His words, glorified be He. This is made clear by His saying, Most High:

“Do not dispute before Me, for I had already given you warning. My word cannot be changed, and I am never unjust to My servants.”

He, glorified be He, thus states that He had given them prior warning, and says:

“My word cannot be changed.”

This implies that He is also truthful in His threats of punishment, and that His threats cannot be altered. This is among the arguments advanced by those who hold that sinful Muslims will not emerge from the Fire. We have addressed their arguments elsewhere. However, this verse weakens the response of those who say that it is permissible not to fulfil a threat. For His saying:

“My word cannot be changed,”

after saying:

“I had already given you warning,”

is evidence that His threats cannot be altered, just as His promises cannot be altered. The correct approach, however, is to reconcile the texts concerning promises and threats, interpreting them in light of one another without altering any of them, just as the texts containing commands and prohibitions are reconciled without altering any of them.

He, Most High, also said:

“Those who stayed behind will say, when you set out to take the spoils, ‘Let us follow you.’ They wish to change Allah’s words.”

And Allah knows best.