Surah 16. An-Nahl

And be true to your bond with God whenever you bind yourselves by a pledge,¹¹⁰ and do not break [your] oaths after having [freely] confirmed them¹¹¹ and having called upon God to be witness to your good faith:¹¹² behold, God knows all that you do.

  - Mohammad Asad

Regarding the expression "bond with God" ('ahd Allah), see surah {2}, note [19]. The clause "whenever you bind yourselves by a pledge" has a twofold meaning: in the first instance (as in 13:20 ) it refers to the spiritual, moral and social obligations arising from one's faith in God; and, secondly, it applies to all pledges or promises given by one person to another - for, as Razi points out, every pledge given by man to man represents, in its essence, a pledge to God. It is to this second aspect of man's "bond with God" that the sequence refers.

I.e., as distinct from oaths "uttered without thought" (see 2:225 ).

Lit., "and having made God [or "named God as"] your guarantor (kafil)".

Fulfill the covenant of Allah when you have pledged to do so, and do not break your oaths after you have sworn them; for swearing in His name you have made Allah your surety; surely Allah has knowledge of all your actions.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Fulfill the covenant of Allah when ye have covenanted, and break not your oaths after the asseveration of them, and after ye have made Allah surety over you. Lo! Allah knoweth what ye do.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hence, be not like her who breaks and completely untwists the yarn which she [herself] has spun and made strong - [be not like this by] using your oaths as a means of deceiving one another,¹¹³ simply because some of you may be more powerful than others.¹¹⁴ By all this, God but puts you to a test - and [He does it] so that on Resurrection Day He might make clear unto you all that on which you were wont to differ.¹¹⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "as a [means of] deception (dakhalan) among yourselves".

Lit., "because there are people (ummah) more powerful than [other] people": relating to declarations and false promises made out of fear.

As is evident from the preceding passage as well as from the sequence, the differences alluded to here relate to ethical and moral values, regarding the truth and relevance of which people of various communities and persuasions hold most divergent views. See also surah {2}, note [94].

Do not behave like that woman who had spun her yarn strongly and then had herself broken it into pieces; nor take your oaths for mutual deceit so that one people may take undue advantage over the other, for Allah puts you to trial by these oaths; and on the Day of Judgment He will certainly reveal to you the truth about which you differed.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And be not like unto her who unravelleth the thread, after she hath made it strong, to thin filaments, making your oaths a deceit between you because of a nation being more numerous than (another) nation. Allah only trieth you thereby, and He verily will explain to you on the Day of Resurrection that wherein ye differed.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

For, had God so willed, He could surely have made you all one single community;¹¹⁶ however, He lets go astray him that wills [to go astray], and guides aright him that wills [to be guided];¹¹⁷ and you will surely be called to account for all that you ever did!¹¹⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., bound by mutually agreed-upon moral values. See in this connection 10:19 and the corresponding notes, especially note [29]. For an elucidation of the concept of ummah wahidah ("one single community") and its further implications, see surah {2}, notes [197] and [198].

Or: "He lets go astray whomever He wills, and guides aright whomever He wills". Regarding the problem of free will versus predestination, seemingly implied in the concept of God's "letting man go [or "causing him to go"] astray" or, alternatively, "guiding him aright", see surah {14}, note [4].

Alluding to the erroneous idea that man's good or evil actions - and therefore also his propensities and resulting attitudes - are "predetermined" by God and not really an outcome of free choice, Zamakhshari rounds off his views on this problem (quoted by me in surah {14}, note [4]) in these words: "If [it were true that] God compels [men] to go astray or, alternatively, to follow His guidance - why should He have postulated their deeds as something for which they will be held responsible?"

If Allah wanted, He could have made you all one nation, but He lets go astray whom He wants and guides whom He pleases: but most certainly you will be questioned about all your actions.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Had Allah willed He could have made you (all) one nation, but He sendeth whom He will astray and guideth whom He will, and ye will indeed be asked of what ye used to do.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And do not use your oaths as a means of deceiving one another - or else [your] foot will slip after having been firm,¹¹⁹ and then you will have to taste the evil [consequences]¹²⁰ of your having turned away from the path of God, with tremendous suffering awaiting you [in the life to come].

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., "you will offend against God after having attained to faith", seeing that - as has been pointed out in note [110] above - every pledge given by man to man is synonymous with a pledge to God.

I.e., in this world (Tabari, Zamakhshari, Baydawi), inasmuch as the breaking of pledges unavoidably leads to a gradual disappearance of all mutual trust and, thus, to the decomposition of the social fabric.

O believers! Do not take oaths to deceive each other, lest your foot slip after being firmly fixed upon guidance; and taste the evil consequences for debarring others from the Way of Allah and incur a mighty punishment.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Make not your oaths a deceit between you, lest a foot should slip after being firmly planted and ye should taste evil forasmuch as ye debarred (men) from the way of Allah, and yours should be an awful doom.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Hence, do not barter away your bond with God for a trifling gain! Verily, that which is with God is by far the best for you, if you but knew it:

  - Mohammad Asad

Do not sell the covenant of Allah for a petty price. Certainly Allah's reward is far better than all your gain, if you but knew it.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And purchase not a small gain at the price of Allah's covenant. Lo! that which Allah hath is better for you, if ye did but know.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

all that is with you is bound to come to an end, whereas that which is with God is everlasting. And most certainly shall We grant unto those who are patient in adversity their reward in accordance with the best that they ever did.

  - Mohammad Asad

Whatever is with you is transitory and what is with Allah is everlasting. We will certainly reward those who are patient according to the noblest of their deeds.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

That which ye have wasteth away, and that which Allah hath remaineth. And verily We shall pay those who are steadfast a recompense in proportion to the best of what they used to do.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

As for anyone - be it man or woman - who does righteous deeds, and is a believer withal - him shall We most certainly cause to live a good life;¹²¹ and most certainly shall We grant unto such as these their reward in accordance with the best that they ever did.

  - Mohammad Asad

This may relate either to life in this world - inasmuch as a true believer invariably finds happiness in his God-consciousness - or to the happiness which awaits him in the hereafter, or to both.

Whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, provided he is a believer, We shall surely grant him a new life, a life that is good, and We will certainly reward such people according to the noblest of their deeds in the hereafter.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Whosoever doeth right, whether male or female, and is a believer, him verily We shall quicken with good life, and We shall pay them a recompense in proportion to the best of what they used to do.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

NOW whenever thou happen to read this Qur'an, seek refuge with God from Satan, the accursed.¹²²

  - Mohammad Asad

The present passage (verses {98-105}) evidently connects with the broad ethical exhortation given in verse {90} above and, thus, with the statement (in verse {89}) that the Qur'an is meant "to make everything clear and to provide guidance and grace and a glad tiding unto all who have surrendered themselves to God" - which, in its turn, implies that the Qur'an is the ultimate source of all God-willed ethical and moral values, and thus an unchanging criterion of good and evil. But since man is always, by virtue of his nature, prone to question the very validity of the moral standards established through revelation, the believer is now called upon to seek, whenever he reads or meditates on this divine writ, God's spiritual aid against the whisperings of what the Qur'an describes as "Satan, the accursed" - that is, all the evil forces, both within man's own soul and within his social environment, which tend to undermine his moral convictions and to lead him away from God.

When you recite The Qur'an, seek Allah's protection from the accursed Shaitan,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when thou recitest the Quran, seek refuge in Allah from Satan the outcast.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Behold, he has no power over those who have attained to faith and in their Sustainer place their trust:

  - Mohammad Asad

surely he has no authority over those who believe and put their trust in their Rabb.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! he hath no power over those who believe and put trust in their Lord.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

he has power only over those who are willing to follow him,¹²³ and who [thus] ascribe to him a share in God's divinity.¹²⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

Or: "who make him their master". Cf. in this connection {14: 22} and the corresponding note [31].

I.e., inasmuch as they pay an almost worshipful reverence to such blandishments as wealth, power, social position, etc.

His authority is only over those who befriend him and commit shirk by his temptation.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

His power is only over those who make a friend of him, and those who ascribe partners unto Him (Allah).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And now that We replace one message by another¹²⁵ - since God is fully aware of what He bestows from on high, step by step¹²⁶ - they [who deny the truth] are wont to say, "Thou but inventest it!" Nay, but most of them do not understand it!¹²⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., by substituting the message of the Qur'an for the earlier dispensations - and not, as some Muslim scholars maintain, "abrogating" one Qur'anic verse and replacing it by another. (Regarding the untenable "doctrine of abrogation", in the latter sense, see {2: 106} and the corresponding note [87]; see also note [35] on {41: 42}.)

I.e., the gradualness of revelation (implied in the verbal form yunazzil) corresponds to God's plan, according to which He has gradually unfolded His will to man, substituting one dispensation for another in the measure of mankind's intellectual and social development, bringing it to its culmination in the message of the Qur'an.

I.e., they do not understand the necessity of a new dispensation and, therefore, do not really understand the Qur'an.

When We substitute one verse in favor of another to elaborate with different examples - and Allah knows best what He reveals in stages - they say: "You are but a forger." The fact is that most of them do not understand.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And when We put a revelation in place of (another) revelation,--and Allah knoweth best what He revealeth--they say: Lo! thou art but inventing. Most of them know not.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: "Holy inspiration¹²⁸ has brought it down from thy Sustainer by stages, setting forth the truth, so that it might give firmness unto those who have attained to faith, and provide guidance and a glad tiding unto all who have surrendered themselves to God."

  - Mohammad Asad

As in the three other places in which the expression ruh aI-qudus occurs ({2 :87} and {253} and {5: 110}), I am rendering it here, too, as "holy inspiration" (see surah {2}, note [71]), a term which, to my mind, is a Qur'anic synonym for "divine revelation". However, a literal rendering - "spirit of holiness" - is also possible if one applies this term to the angel who communicates God's revelations to the prophets. (See also verse {2} of this surah and the corresponding note [2].)

Say, "The Holy Spirit (Gabriel) has brought it down piecemeal intact from your Rabb to strengthen the faith of the believers, and to give guidance and good news to the Muslims."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say: The holy Spirit hath revealed it from thy Lord with truth, that it may confirm (the faith of) those who believe, and as guidance and good tidings for those who have surrendered (to Allah).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And, indeed, full well do We know that they say, "It is but a human being that imparts [all] this to him!"¹²⁹ - [notwithstanding that] the tongue of him to whom they so maliciously point is wholly outlandish,¹³⁰ whereas this is Arabic speech, clear [in itself] and clearly showing the truth [of its source].¹³¹

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., to Muhammad - thus insinuating that his claim to divine revelation was false.

Whereas some of the pagan Quraysh regarded the ideas expressed in the Qur'an as "invented" by Muhammad, others thought that they must have been imparted to him by a foreigner - perhaps a Christian - who lived in Mecca at that time, or whom the Prophet was supposed to have encountered at an earlier period of his life. Various conjectures have been advanced - both by early Muslim commentators and by modern orientalists - as to the "identity" of the person or persons whom the suspicious Meccans might have had in mind in this connection but all these conjectures are purely speculative and, therefore, of no historical value whatever. The suspicion of the pagan Meccans implies no more than the historical fact that those of the Prophet's opponents who were unwilling to pay him the compliment of having "invented" the Qur'an (the profundity of which they were unable to deny) conveniently attributed its authorship - or at least its inspiration - to a mythical non-Arab "teacher" of the Prophet.

For an explanation of this composite rendering of the descriptive term mubin, see surah {12}, note [2]. The term is used here to stress the fact that no human being - and certainly no non-Arab - could ever have produced the flawless, exalted Arabic diction in which the Qur'an is expressed.

We know very well what they say about you, O Muhammad: "A certain man teaches him." But the man they allude to speaks a foreign language while this (The Qur'an) is in eloquent Arabic.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We know well that they say: Only a man teacheth him. The speech of him at whom they falsely hint is outlandish, and this is clear Arabic speech.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Verily, as for those who will not believe in God's messages, God does not guide them aright; and grievous suffering will be their lot [in the life to come].

  - Mohammad Asad

In fact, Allah does not show guidance to those who do not believe in His revelations and they will have a painful punishment.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! those who disbelieve the revelations of Allah, Allah guideth them not and theirs will be a painful doom.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It is but they who will not believe in God's messages that invent this falsehood;¹³² and it is they, they who are lying!

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., the scurrilous allegation referred to in verse {103}. Although this statement alludes,in the first instance, to the hostile contemporaries of the Prophet, it extends, by obvious implication, to people of all times who refuse to believe in the reality of Muhammad's revelations, and try to explain them away as obsessive illusions or even as deliberate fabrications.

Surely those who do not believe in the revelations of Allah, are the ones who forge the falsehood and they are the ones who are liars!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Only they invent falsehood who believe not Allah's revelations, and (only) they are the liars.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall