| This Surah (Revealed) Meccan, except for the last three verses, which are Medinese; it consists of 128
verses, revealed after [sūrat] al-Kahf.(An-Nahl)
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| بِسْم ِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | |
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Tafseer
When the idolaters found chastisement slow in coming, the following was
revealed: Godâs commandment has come, that is, the Hour [has come] ([this verb] atā is in the past tense
because it means that [the event therein described] will come to pass) in other words, it [Godâs commandment] is
close at hand, so do not seek to hasten it, do not demand it before its [due] time, for it will come to
pass without doubt. Glory be to Him â an affirmation of His transcendence â and exalted be He above what they
associate, with Him, in the way of others.
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Tafseer
He sends down the angels, namely, Gabriel, with the Spirit, with the Revelation,
of His command, by His will, to whomever He will of His servants, and these are the prophets, [saying] that
(an is explicative): Warn, threaten the disbelievers with chastisement and make them aware, that there is
no God save Me: so fear Me, fear Me. 279
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Tafseer
He created the heavens and the earth with the Truth, that is, with the purpose
of [manifesting] truth. Exalted be He above what they associate, with Him in the way of idols.
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Tafseer
He created man from a drop of fluid, of sperm, until He makes him strong and
tough, yet behold! he is disputatious, extremely quarrelsome, openly, making this [disputatiousness]
clear in his rejection of resurrection, contending: Who shall revive the bones when they are decayed? [Q.
36:78].
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Tafseer
And the cattle, camels, cows and sheep (al-anâāma, âcattleâ, is in the
accusative because of the implied verb [governing it], as explained by [the following words, khalaqahā lakum]), He
created them for you, [you being] included among the number of mankind. In them there is warmth, that by
which you keep warm in the way of clothes and garments, [taken] from their hairs and wools, as well as
[other] uses, such as [their] offspring, milk and for you to ride, and of them you eat (the adverbial clause
[wa-minhā, âof themâ] precedes [the verb] for the purpose of [establishing harmony with] the end-rhyme [of the
Qurâānic verse]);
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Tafseer
and for you there is in them beauty, adornment, when you bring them [home] to
rest, [when you] return them to their resting places in the evening, and when you drive them forth to
pasture, when you bring them out to the grazing pastures in the morning.
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Tafseer
And they bear your burdens, your baggage, to a land which you could not reach,
without being on camelback, save with great trouble to yourselves, [save by] straining them. Indeed your
Lord is Gentle, Merciful, to you, in having created these for you.
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Tafseer
And, He created, horses and mules and asses, that you may ride them, and for
adornment (wa-zīnatan is an object denoting reason; the use of both of these reasons [âto rideâ and âfor
adornmentâ] as illustrations of [Godâs] graces does not preclude that they may have been created for other
purposes, such as for consumption in the case of horses â which is established [as lawful] by a hadīth
in both Sahīhs [of Bukhārī and Muslim]); and He creates what you do not know, of marvelous and strange
things.
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Tafseer
And Godâs is the direction of the way, that is, to point out the straight path,
and some of them, that is, the paths, are deviant, swerving away from straightness. And had He willed, to guide
you, He would have guided you, to seek the way, all, so that you would be [rightly] guided of your
own choice.
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Tafseer
He it is Who sends down water from the heaven, whence you have drink, for you to
drink, and whence are trees, which grow because of this [water], whereat you let your animals graze.
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Tafseer
With it He makes the crops grow for you, and olives and date-palms and vines and
all kinds of fruit. Surely in that, which is mentioned, there is a sign, indicating His Oneness, exalted He
be, for people who reflect, 280 upon His handiwork and therefore believe.
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Tafseer
And He disposed for you the night and the day and the sun (waâl-shamsa, read in
the accusative as a supplement to what precedes it; or read waâl-shamsu in the nominative as a
subject [of a new sentence]) and the moon and the stars (also read both ways) are disposed (musakhkharātin,
read in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier, or in the nominative [musakhkharātun] as a predicate)
by His command, by His will. Surely in that there are signs for people who understand, [a people] who
reflect.
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Tafseer
And, He has disposed for you, whatever He has created for you in the earth, of
animals, plants and otherwise, diverse in hue, such as red, yellow, green and otherwise. Surely in
that there is a sign for people who remember, [a people who] are admonished.
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Tafseer
And He it is Who disposed the sea, [He it is Who] subdued it, that it might be
sailed upon and dived in, that you may eat from it fresh meat, that is, fish, and bring forth from it ornaments
which you wear, namely, pearls and coral. And you see, observe, the ships ploughing therein, ploughing
through the water, that is, cleaving it as they sail upon it, coming and going with the same wind; and that
you may seek (wa-litabtaghū is a supplement to li-taâkulū, âthat you may eatâ) of His bounty, exalted He be,
by way of commerce, and that you might be thankful, to God for [all] that.
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Tafseer
And He cast into the earth firm mountains, lest it should shake, move, with you,
and, He made therein, rivers, such as the Nile, and ways, roads, so that you might be guided, to your
destinations,
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Tafseer
â and landmarks [as well], by which you might find the roads, [landmarks] such
as mountains, during the day, and by the star, meaning, by the stars, they are guided, to the roads and
to the direction of prayer (qibla) by night.
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Tafseer
Is He then Who creates â namely, God â as he who does not create, namely, idols,
so that you associate them with Him in worship? No. Will you not then remember, this, and so become
believers?
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Tafseer
And if you were to count Godâs grace you could never reckon it, number it
precisely, let alone be able to give thanks for it. Indeed God is Forgiving, Merciful, since He bestows graces upon
you despite your shortcomings and your [acts of] disobedience.
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Tafseer
And God knows what you keep secret and what you disclose.
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Tafseer
And those whom you invoke (tadâūna, or read yadâuna âthey invokeâ) besides God,
namely, the idols, do not create anything, but are themselves created, fashioned from stones and other
[materials]. 281
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Tafseer
They are dead, possessing no life (amwātun, âdeadâ, is a second predicate), not
living (an emphasis), and they, the idols, are not aware when, is the time [in which], they shall be
raised, that is, creatures: so how can they be worshipped? For, only the Creator, the Living, the Knower of the
Unseen can be a God.
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Tafseer
Your God, the One deserving of your worship, is One God, without [any] equal in
[terms of] His essence or His attributes, and this is God, exalted He be. But as for those who do not
believe in the Hereafter their hearts are in denial, rejecting the Oneness [of God], and they are arrogant,
scorning to believe in it.
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Tafseer
Without doubt, verily, God knows what they keep secret and what they disclose,
and will requite them for it. Indeed He does not love the arrogant, meaning, He will punish them.
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Tafseer
The following was revealed regarding al-Nadr b. al-Hārith: And when it is said
to them, âWhat is it (mā is an interrogative particle; dhā is a relative particle) that your Lord has
revealed?â, to Muhammad (s), they say, [that] these [revelations] are, âfables, lies, of the ancientsâ, in order to
lead people astray.
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Tafseer
That they may bear, at the conclusion of the matter, their burdens, their sins,
complete, none of them expunged, on the Day of Resurrection and also, [bear] some, of the burdens of
those whom they lead astray without any knowledge, because they summoned them to error and they [the latter]
followed them, and thus both share in the sin. How evil, awful, is the burden they bear, this load
[of sins] of theirs which they carry.
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Tafseer
Those before them had indeed plotted, [those] such as Nimrod â he built a lofty
tower that he might ascend through it to the heavens and wage war against its inhabitants; then God
came at, He aimed at, their edifice from the foundations, from the base, unleashing against it winds
and earthquake, which demolished it; and so the roof collapsed upon them from above them, that is,
while they were beneath it, and the chastisement came upon them whence they were not aware, from a direction
which would not have occurred to them:
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| Ayah alternatively] it is said that this [description] is a simile
for [demonstrating] the thwarting of that which they had settled on in the way of plots against [Godâs]
messengers.
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Tafseer
Then on the Day of Resurrection He will disgrace them, humiliate them, and He,
God, will say, to them by the tongues of the angels, in rebuke: âWhere are those associates of Mine, as
you [were wont to] claim, concerning whom, for whose sake, you used to make breaches?â, you used to
opposed the believers. Those who were given knowledge, from among the prophets and believers, will say,
âTruly disgrace on this day, as well as misfortune, are for the disbelievers â they say this rejoicing at their
[the disbelieversâ] misfortune â
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