Surah 57. Al-Hadid, Ayah 8

God's "taking a pledge" is a metonymic allusion to the faculty of reason with which He has endowed man, and which ought to enable every sane person to grasp the evidence of God's existence by observing the effects of His creativeness in all nature and by paying heed to the teachings of His prophets (Zamakhshari). See in this connection 7:172 and the corresponding note [139].

Lit., "if you are believers": implying, according to Razi, "if you can believe in anything on the basis of sound evidence".

 See 7:172.

A figure of speech implying a far wider meaning than the words express. It is equivalent to saying: "There is every reason why ye should believe in Allah", etc. The same construction applies to verse 10 below.

There are two shades of meaning. (1) There is the implied Covenant in a man who accepts the Gospel of Unity that he will bring forth all the fruits of that Gospel, i.e., believe in Allah, and serve Allah and humanity. See n. 682 to v. 1. (2) There were at various times express Covenants entered into by the Muslims to serve Allah and be true to the Prophet, comparable to the Covenants of the Jewish nation about the Message of Moses; e.g., the two Covenants of 'Aqaba (v. 8, and n. 705) and the Pledge of Hudaibiya (xlviii. 10, n. 4877). For the Covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai, see. ii. 63, n. 78.