Surah An-Nahl 16:84-89 - Quran Translation Commentary

84. On the day when we will raise up from every nation a witness,¹²⁷ then no leave will be given to disbelievers (for excuses),nor will they be asked to repent.¹²⁸

85. And when the wrong-doers will see the punishment, it will not be made light for them, nor will they be reprieved.

86. And those who ascribed partners to Allah will behold those partners of theirs, they will say: “Our Lord! These are our partners whom we used to invoke instead of You.” But they will fling the saying to them (with the words): “Verily, you are liars!” ¹²⁹

87. And on that day they will proffer submission to Allah,¹³⁰ and all the falsehood that they invented will fail them.¹³¹

88. Those who disbelieve and debar (men) from the way of Allah, for them we will give punishment over punishment because of the corruption they wrought.¹³²

89. And the day when we will raise in every nation a witness against them from their own people, and We will bring you as witness against these.¹³³ And we have revealed the Book (as an argument against them) as an exposition of all things clearly,¹³⁴ and a guidance and a mercy and good tidings for those who surrender to Allah.

Commentary

127. That is: The messenger of Allah who was sent to a particular nation with Allah’s message will give witness before Allah on the Day of Judgment that he conveyed Allah’s message to his people.

128. That is: After the witness of the Prophet, the disbelievers will have no chance of offering any false excuses before God, because the evidence of the Prophet will have convincingly proved their guilt. And they will not even be asked to seek forgiveness for their sins because the time for begging for forgiveness and reprieve would have passed. This chance they had in the world. In the Hereafter, they are to get the punishment according to their misdeeds.

129. From this refutation it is quite clear that here by the associates or partners of Allah, falsely ascribed, are not meant the idols but those personalities who were treated by the polytheists in the manner reserved only for God, e.g. presuming to be omnipresent and calling them for help to believe that they enjoy such authority that they can get whatever they want for their followers from God, that they fix the destiny and remove difficulties, and that they help on granting wealth and children from the Unseen, etc.

These persons will declare their followers liars on the Day of Judgment, saying that they did not know that they were being invoked by the followers for help and that they were quite unable to help them, and that the claim that they were making on their behalf was totally false.

130. That is: On that day these polytheists will admit their error and falsehood and will express their helplessness before God.

131. That is: Their falsehood that God has granted to such and such a person certain power and that they enjoy immense power etc, will be exposed and they will be proved to be totally false. It may be noted that polytheism is not only found in idolaters only but also in a large number of the present-day Muslims. Accordingly they have named one of their supposed benefactors as ‘Mushkil Kusha’ (Solver of Difficulties), another one as ‘Dastagir’ (hand-holder), someone as ‘Gharib Nawaz’ (Helper of the poor), and some other as ‘Ghause-i-Pak’ (Holy helper), and they try to convince others that this is not shirk (polytheism), although Qur’an has in principle declared all these things as shirk, their case is not at all different from this. These polytheistic activities of the ignorant Muslims are given the certificate of lawfulness by a section of the so-called ulema, so much so that in a recently published commentary on Qur’an it has been written that –

“Thus the Lord by His grace makes His favourite slaves masters of creation, but in spite of this they do not become equal to God, they remain His slaves only.”

This last portion is an open contradiction of what is said earlier, and a great mistake—as if belief, in their being master of creation is also not shirk. May God save us from such self-deception.

132. For Qur’an the greatest corruption is that man may indulge in polytheism and then spread it and may debar men from following the path of tawheed (monotheism).

133. For explanation, see Note No.96, Surah An-Nisa.

134. Quran’s subject is: “To show clearly the path of Allah to the people and to save them from going astray.” In view of this Qur’an has accordingly described the necessary things clearly and openly, which are quite sufficient for man’s guidance. As for the details of the Quranic commands and their practical forms, the sunnah of the Prophet has clearly and efficiently clarified them.

And when this is a fact that all the things which are concerned with man’s guidance and on whom the salvation of man in the Hereafter depends, have been clearly narrated, then there is no such belief which is necessary in the religion and has not been mentioned in the Qur’an. Therefore, those Muslims who add any additional belief to the beliefs already presented by the Quran, they introduce a very great ‘bidat’ (innovation) in the religion, and this has created different sects among Muslims. If they take Quran to be sufficient for matters of belief, then only sectarianism will end among them.