6وَمِنَ النّاسِ مَن يَشتَري لَهوَ الحَديثِ لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبيلِ اللَّهِ بِغَيرِ عِلمٍ وَيَتَّخِذَها هُزُوًا ۚ أُولٰئِكَ لَهُم عَذابٌ مُهينٌMuhammad AsadBut among men there is many a one that prefers a mere play with words [to divine guidance],1 so as to lead [those] without knowledge astray from the path of God, and to turn it to ridicule: for such there is shameful suffering in store.Lit., "among the people there is he who [or "such as"] takes playful [or "idle"] talk in exchange", i.e., for divine guidance: apparently an allusion to a pseudo-philosophical play with words and metaphysical speculations without any real meaning behind them (cf. note 38 on 23:67). Contrary to what some of the commentators assume, the above statement does not refer to any one person (allegedly a contemporary of the Prophet) but describes a type of mentality and has, therefore, a general import.