Surah 16. An-Nahl

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Verses [Section]: 1-9[1], 10-21 [2], 22-25 [3], 26-34 [4], 35-40 [5], 41-50 [6], 51-60 [7], 61-65 [8], 66-70 [9], 71-76 [10], 77-83 [11], 84-89 [12], 90-100 [13], 101-110 [14], 111-119 [15], 120-128 [16]

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Quran Text of Verse 1-916. An-Nahlبِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِاَتٰۤیWill comeاَمْرُthe commandاللّٰهِof Allahفَلَاso (do) notتَسْتَعْجِلُوْهُ ؕ(be) impatient for itسُبْحٰنَهٗGlorified is Heوَ تَعٰلٰیand Exalted (is) Heعَمَّاabove whatیُشْرِكُوْنَ they associate یُنَزِّلُHe sends downالْمَلٰٓىِٕكَةَthe Angelsبِالرُّوْحِwith the inspirationمِنْofاَمْرِهٖHis CommandعَلٰیuponمَنْwhomیَّشَآءُHe willsمِنْofعِبَادِهٖۤHis slavesاَنْthatاَنْذِرُوْۤاWarnاَنَّهٗthat [He]لَاۤ(there is) noاِلٰهَgodاِلَّاۤexceptاَنَاMeفَاتَّقُوْنِ so fear Me خَلَقَHe createdالسَّمٰوٰتِthe heavensوَ الْاَرْضَand the earthبِالْحَقِّ ؕin truthتَعٰلٰیExalted is Heعَمَّاabove whatیُشْرِكُوْنَ they associate خَلَقَHe createdالْاِنْسَانَthe human kindمِنْfromنُّطْفَةٍa minute quantity of semenفَاِذَاthen beholdهُوَheخَصِیْمٌ(is) an opponentمُّبِیْنٌ clear وَ الْاَنْعَامَAnd the cattleخَلَقَهَا ۚHe created themلَكُمْfor youفِیْهَاin themدِفْءٌ(is) warmthوَّ مَنَافِعُand benefitsوَ مِنْهَاand from themتَاْكُلُوْنَ۪you eat وَ لَكُمْAnd for youفِیْهَاin themجَمَالٌ(is) beautyحِیْنَwhenتُرِیْحُوْنَyou bring them inوَ حِیْنَand whenتَسْرَحُوْنَ۪you take them out 16. An-Nahl Page 268وَ تَحْمِلُAnd they carryاَثْقَالَكُمْyour loadsاِلٰیtoبَلَدٍa landلَّمْnotتَكُوْنُوْاyou couldبٰلِغِیْهِreach itاِلَّاexceptبِشِقِّwith great troubleالْاَنْفُسِ ؕ(to) yourselvesاِنَّIndeedرَبَّكُمْyour Lordلَرَءُوْفٌsurely is Most KindرَّحِیْمٌۙMost Merciful وَّ الْخَیْلَAnd horsesوَ الْبِغَالَand mulesوَ الْحَمِیْرَand donkeysلِتَرْكُبُوْهَاfor you to ride themوَ زِیْنَةً ؕand (as) adornmentوَ یَخْلُقُAnd He createsمَاwhatلَاnotتَعْلَمُوْنَ you know وَ عَلَیAnd uponاللّٰهِAllahقَصْدُ(is) the directionالسَّبِیْلِ(of) the wayوَ مِنْهَاand among themجَآىِٕرٌ ؕ(are) crookedوَ لَوْAnd ifشَآءَHe willedلَهَدٰىكُمْsurely He would have guided youاَجْمَعِیْنَ۠all

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Translation of Verse 1-9In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

(16:1) Allah's judgement has (all but) come;¹ do not, then, call for its speedy advent. Holy is He, and far above their associating others with Him in His Divinity.²

(16:2) He sends down this spirit(of prophecy) by His command through His angels³ on any of His servants whom He wills,⁴ (directing them): "Warn people that there is no deity but Me; so hold Me alone in fear."⁵

(16:3) He created the heavens and the earth with Truth. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Allah in His Divinity.⁶

(16:4) He created man out of a mere drop of fluid, and lo! he turned into an open wrangler.⁷

(16:5) He created the cattle. They are a source of clothing and food and also a variety of other benefits for you.

(16:6) And you find beauty in them as you drive them to pasture in the morning and as you drive them back home in the evening;

(16:7) and they carry your loads to many a place which you would be unable to reach without much hardship. Surely your Lord is Intensely Loving, Most Merciful.

(16:8) And He created horses and mules and asses for you to ride, and also for your adornment. And He creates many things (for you) that you do not even know about.⁸

(16:9) It rests with Allah alone to show you the Right Way, even when there are many crooked ways.⁹ Had He so willed, He would have (perforce) guided you all aright.¹⁰

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Commentary

1. This is an emphatic way of saying that God’s judgement will become known very soon. The past tense employed for conveying this idea underscores that God’s judgement is both imminent and near. Another possible reason for using the past tense may be that the rebelliousness and iniquity of the unbelieving Quraysh had reached its apex and, hence, it was necessary for God to take decisive and final action against them.

This naturally raises the question as to what this ‘Judgement’ was, and what form it took. In our opinion, the ‘judgement’ refers to Prophet Muhammad’s migration from Makka. This seems to be evident from the fact that soon after the revelation of this surah he was directed to migrate to Madina.

On studying the Qur’an, it would appear that a Prophet is asked, as a last resort, to migrate when all his efforts to reform his people have failed, and his people persist in rejection and unbelief. Hence, when a Prophet is to migrate, the fate of his people is sealed. Therefore, either God’s scourge smites them, or they are destroyed at the hands of that Prophet and his followers. This is borne out by history. When Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) migrated to Madina, the unbelievers assumed that they had won the day. However, within eight to ten years of the Prophet’s migration, polytheism and every form of unbelief were wiped out not only from Makka, but also from the whole of the Arabian Peninsula.

2. In order to fully understand the link between the two parts of this verse it is necessary to bear in mind its background. The unbelievers often challenged the Prophet (peace be on him) to bring about God’s scourge upon them. Implicit in such a statement was the conviction that their religion was the right one, and the religion which Muhammad (peace be on him) propagated was false and devoid of God’s sanction. The pith of their argument was as follows: ‘Muhammad (peace be on him) claims that we have deviated from the truth. He also claims to be a Prophet designated by God. If both these statements are true, we should by now have been seized by God’s scourge.’ Hence, the proclamation of God’s judgement was immediately followed by clarification that the unbelievers were altogether mistaken about the reason for the delay in the enforcement of that judgement. The delay in punishment did not warrant belief in polytheism. God is holier and far above being One with Whose divinity anyone could be associated.

3. The ‘spirit’ mentioned here is the spirit of prophecy. The Messenger is infused with it, and it animates all that he says or does, Revelation and the spirit of prophecy have the same significance in man’s moral life as does the ‘soul’ in his physical life. Hence, the Qur’an has used the term ‘spirit’ for it. Since the Christians were unable to grasp this, they were led to believe in the Holy Ghost and to make him one of three persons constituting a Trinity.

4. The unbelievers in effect demanded: ‘Bring down God’s punishment upon us here and now if you can.’ This demand was based on their belief that the Prophet’s claim to have been designated by God was false. Hence it was not deemed sufficient to refute polytheism. It was also considered necessary to affirm Muhammad’s prophethood. God responded to their statement by saying that it was after being infused with God’s spirit that the Prophet (peace be on him) embarked upon his mission.

As to the Qur’anic statement that ‘He sends down this spirit [of prophecy] on any of His servants whom He wills’ is a rejoinder to the unbelievers’ charge that the Prophet (peace be on him) was false in claiming that he was a Messenger. The unbelievers took strong exception to the choice of Muhammad (peace be on him), the son of ‘Abd Allah for this divine assignment. How could he be so appointed when there were outstanding scions in the leading families of Makka and Ta’ if who, in their view, were much better suited for such a position. This frivolous statement is dismissed at several points in the Qur’an by asserting that God knows best what He ought to do. He does not stand in need of anyone’s advice in deciding whom to entrust with prophethood.

5. This amounts to saying that the message of all those who were granted the spirit of prophecy was one and the same — that only One Being is invested with godhead and He alone deserves to be held in awe. The anchor of man’s morality, and the focal point of man’s thoughts and actions should be fear of God’s displeasure and punishment, and fear of the dire consequences which follow disobedience of Him.

6. This amounts to saying that the rejection of polytheism and the affirmation of monotheism which form the core of all the Prophets’ message is attested to by virtually everything that is in the heavens and the earth. For the universe is not a chaotic figment of someone’s imagination. It rather represents an ordered existence founded on truth. The universe, therefore, provides no support of polytheism. On the contrary, one can see that there is only One True God at work everywhere. Nothing in the universe points to anyone other than God as its creator. Since the entire system, which is based on an incontrovertible truth, has been working on the principle that God is One, no room is left for associating others with God. Polytheism is nothing more than a conglomeration of fancies and conjectures and is totally devoid cf any basis in fact. There are numerous signs in both the physical world and man’s own being which provide incontestable testimony in support of God’s unity on the one hand, and of the doctrine of prophethood on the other.

7. The Qur’anic statement affords two possible interpretations. It seems that both are at once correct. The. verse states that although God created man from a mere drop of semen, he is quite argumentative and is prone to marshal proofs in support of his view. Another meaning is that although man was created by God from a mere drop of semen, he became so arrogant that he wrangles even with God.

Taken in the first sense, the verse is part of the argument elaborated in the several verses which follow. (We shall turn to their explanation at the end of the present discourse.) In the latter sense, the verse asks man to reflect over his humble origins before wrangling with God and behaving arrogantly. He should call to mind the form in which he was born; the place where he was originally nurtured; the passage through which he made his way to the earth. He should also consider the stages through which he passed before reaching the age of his youth. Does it behoove anyone with such origins to be impertinent to God?

8. God has yoked many a thing to man’s service, making it beneficial to him. Man, however, is not even aware of all these things and the services which they render him.

9. While adducing arguments to establish that God is one, that He is merciful, and that He alone nurtures all, an argument is also subtly adduced in support of the doctrine of prophethood. The argument that has been summarily hinted at is as follows: Logically, there are many ways and man chooses one or the other of them. Obviously, all of these cannot be right. Only one of them can be so, and this will be the one which is consonant with the truth. Likewise, one can choose the course of one’s action out of the myriad of paths that have been charted. Now, the only right path of action is the one rooted in the right world-view.

To know the right way that would ensure both sound intellectual orientation and right behavior is man’s greatest need. Obviously man also has other needs, arising out of his animality, even if that animality might be of a higher order than other species. But knowledge of the right way as mentioned above is necessary if man is to fulfil his need qua man. If this need remains unfulfilled, it means that man’s whole life has been wasted. Now, God’s providence is well worth reflecting upon. For, as we know well, God keeps many a provision in readiness for man even before he is born. As for the arrangements that God makes to caier to the requirements of the animal aspects of man’s nature, they are both extensive and highly elaborate. Can it even be imagined that a God who cares for man’s material needs would have made no arrangements to fulfil the greatest and most fundamental needs of man’s humanity? It is precisely such an arrangement which was made by means of the institution of prophethood. In fact, those who do not believe in prophethood should be able to identify what arrangement was made by God for man’s guidance other than prophethood. It is not appropriate for anyone to say, in response to this query, that God has invested man with reason in order that he might find the right way. For, as we know, human reason has discovered several ways. This fact is patent proof of the inadequacy of human reason.

Nor would it be justifiable to say that God has made no arrangements for man’s guidance. Such a statement would be an outrageous thing to say about God. For, as we have pointed out earlier, the arrangements made to provide for man’s sustenance and growth as an animal are both perfect and elaborate. How can it be conceived, then, that God would take no interest in man’s distinctly human requirements and leave him to wander and stumble in darkness? (For further elaboration of this point see Tafhim al-Qur'an, al-Rahman 55, nn. 2-3.)

10. One possible way for God to guide man to the right way was to make him inherently rightly-directed, that is the manner of beings that are devoid of all free-will. This, however, was not God’s will. He willed that there should come into being a species possessed of free-will and volition, one capable of making its own choice even the wrong choice. In order that man might make use of this freedom, he was endowed with the means of acquiring knowledge, with the faculties of reason and thinking, with the potential for will and desire, with the power to use a large number of things both within and outside him. God also created in man’s nature and in the world around a number of things which could lead man either to true guidance or to error. All this would have been meaningless had it been decided that man, in terms of his nature, could only follow the true guidance, and that no other option was available to him. Nor would it have been possible for man to reach those heights of spiritual growth which can be reached only by the exercise of free-will.

God, therefore, did not will that men should be compelled to follow only the right way. Instead, God decided to establish the institution of prophethood. It was, thus, ensured that man would retain his freedom. At the same time, it was also ensured that the purpose of putting man to the test should also be realized.

All this was done side by side with making adequate arrangements for the availability of true guidance to mankind. 7