( أم يقولون افتراه ) قال ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما : يعني نوحا عليه السلام . وقال مقاتل : يعني محمدا صلى الله عليه وسلم . ( قل إن افتريته فعلي إجرامي ) أي : إثمي ووبال جرمي . والإجرام : كسب الذنب . ( وأنا بريء مما تجرمون ) لا أؤاخذ بذنوبكم .
The disbelief of Noah’s people led them to claim that he had made up something about Allah with this faith that he brought to them. Allah told His messenger to say to them that if he had invented it, then he would be a wrongdoer and the punishment of his crime would fall upon him alone; and if they rejected the truth he brought them, out of stubbornness and pride, then they were the wrongdoers, and he was not responsible for their crime in any way, but was innocent of it.