23 Preface ثُمَّ لَم تَكُن فِتنَتُهُم إِلّا أَن قالوا وَاللَّهِ رَبِّنا ما كُنّا مُشرِكينَYusuf AliThere will then be (left) no subterfuge for them1 but to say: “By God our Lord, we were not those who joined gods with God.”Fitnah has various meanings, from the root idea of “to try, to test, to tempt;” e.g., (1) a trial or temptation, as in 2:102; (2) trouble, tumult, oppression, persecution, as in 2:191, 193, 217; (3) discord, as in 3:7. (4) subterfuge, an answer that amounts to-a sedition, and excuse founded on a falsehood, as here. Other shades of meaning will 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 perversity they will deny that they ever entertained the notion of false gods.