35أَم يَقولونَ افتَراهُ ۖ قُل إِنِ افتَرَيتُهُ فَعَلَيَّ إِجرامي وَأَنا بَريءٌ مِمّا تُجرِمونَMuhammad AsadDO SOME, perchance, assert, "[Muhammad] has invented this [story]"?1 Say [O Prophet]: "If I have invented it, upon me be this sin; but far be it from me to commit the sin of which you are guilty."2Some of the classical commentators assume that this verse forms part of the story of Noah and his people. This, however, is improbable in view of the sudden change from the past tense employed in the preceding and subsequent verses ("he said", "they said") to the present tense ("do they say"). The only plausible explanation is that given by Tabari and Ibn Kathir (and mentioned also by Baghawi on the authority of Muqatil): namely, that the whole of verse 35 is a parenthetic passage addressed to the Prophet Muhammad, relating in the first instance to the story of Noah as narrated in the Qur'an and, by implication, to the Qur'an as such - in other words, a reiteration of the argument mentioned in verse 13 of this surah and in other places as well. This eminently convincing interpretation has also been adopted by Rashid Rida' (Manor XII, 71).Or: "I have nothing to do with the sin of which you are guilty" - i.e., the sin of giving the lie to God's messages (cf. 10: 41) or of inventing lies about God.