Surat Yunus, Ayah 32

I seek refuge in Allāh from al-Shayṭān al-rajīm [Satan, the accursed].

In the Name of Allāh, al-Rahmān [the All-Merciful], al-Rahīm [the Ever-Merciful].

{فَذَٰلِكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبُّكُمُ الْحَقُّ ۚ فَمَاذَا بَعْدَ الْحَقِّ إِلَّا الضَّلَالُ ۚ فَأَنَّىٰ تُصْرَفُونَ}

“Thus is Allāh—your Lord—the Truth. What lies after truth except misguidance? How, then, are you turned away?”

Sūrat Yūnus 10:32

Tafsīr

Truth Is Boolean

Thus is Allāh—your Lord—the Truth’: “The Truth” [al-haqq] means the Undeniable Reality—the Firmly Established. Since you yourselves affirm that Allāh alone is al-Razzāq [the Provider], the One who gives life and death, the Master [al-Mālik] and Creator of your bodies, and the One who manages all affairs of creation [mudabbir al-kawn]—then know this Allāh alone is your true, established Lord.

Every matter must be either truth or falsehood; both cannot exist together. When Allāh’s Lordship [rubūbiyyah] and Ownership [mālikiyyah] are truth, then any claim that another has authority or power to intercede with Allāh must be falsehood—what else could it be? Yet despite this, how does your heart agree to abandon truth and embrace misguidance—giving up divine unity [tawhīd] for polytheism [shirk]? Reflect! Where are you being turned away from the path of truth?

Truth Is Singular

‘What lies after truth except misguidance?’: This proves truth is singular. The idea that “whatever exists should be allowed; all views are correct,” or that the four Islamic legal schools [al-madhāhib al-arbaʿah] that appeared after the Khayr al-Qurūn [Best of Generations] era—Hanafī, Shāfiʿī, Mālikī, or Hanbalī—are all simultaneously true, contradicts this verse. How can every ruling of these schools be true at once? In their disagreements [ikhtilāf], only one position can be correct [ṣawāb]—the rest are errors [khataʾ]. A qualified scholar [mujtahid] may earn reward for sincere effort despite error—but his error can never become truth.

Consider this example: Can one school’s ruling—that every intoxicant [muskir] is forbidden—and another’s—that only wine [khamr] from grapes or dates is forbidden, while other intoxicants are allowed—both be true?

Another example: Can one view—that the mandatory punishment [hadd] applies to sex with a prostitute [baghiyy]—and another—that no hadd applies when a woman is hired for sex [al-mustaʾjarah]—both be correct?

A third example: Can one position—that a man who marries his maternal aunt [umm al-ʿamm] while knowing it is forbidden commits sin but avoids hadd punishment—and another—that this act is apostasy [irtidād], deserving execution as punishment for waging war against Allāh [muhāribah]—both stand valid?

Further: Many scholars affirm—with proof—that faith [īmān] can increase or decrease; that good deeds are part of faith; and that our faith is vastly inferior to that of the Prophets, angels, and Companions [al-ṣaḥābah]. Opposing them, some claim: “Faith is only belief in the heart and words on the tongue; deeds like prayer and fasting are not part of faith. Since we believe and testify just as Jibrīl [peace be upon him] and Abū Bakr [peace be upon him] did, our faith is equal to theirs—none is better or worse.”

Judge for yourself: With such clear contradictions, how can both views be true?

In summary, whenever two things contradict, if one is truth—the other is necessarily misguidance [dalāl] and error [khataʾ].