Surah 6. Al-An'am, Ayah 23

This refers to beliefs which undoubtedly imply shirk ("the ascribing of divinity or divine qualities to beings or forces other than God") in the objective sense of this concept, but which the person concerned does not subjectively visualize as denying God's oneness (Razi): for instance, the mystical dogma of the "Trinity" which, in the Christian view, does not conflict with the principle of God's oneness inasmuch as it is supposed to express a "threefold aspect" of the One Deity, or the attribution of divine or semi-divine qualities to saints as supposed "mediators" between man and God, and so forth. All such beliefs are, of course, emphatically rejected by the Qur'an.

Fitnat has various meanings, from the root idea of "to try , to test, to tempt;" e.g. (1) a trial or temptation, as in ii. 102; (2) trouble, tumult, oppression, persecution, as in ii. 191, 193, 217; (3) discord, as in iii. 7; (4) subterfuge, an answer that amounts to a sedition, and excuse founded on a falsehod, as here. Other shades of meaning wll be noticed as they occur. Those who blasphemed God in imagining false gods will now see the vanity of their imaginations for themselves. What answer can they give now? In their perverisity they will deny that they ever entertained the notion of false gods.