Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 16 An-Nahl, Ayat 91-93

وَ اَوۡفُوۡا بِعَهۡدِ اللّٰهِ اِذَا عَاهَدتُّمۡ وَلَا تَنۡقُضُوا الۡاَيۡمَانَ بَعۡدَ تَوۡكِيۡدِهَا وَقَدۡ جَعَلۡتُمُ اللّٰهَ عَلَيۡكُمۡ كَفِيۡلًا​ ؕ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ يَعۡلَمُ مَا تَفۡعَلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿16:91﴾ وَلَا تَكُوۡنُوۡا كَالَّتِىۡ نَقَضَتۡ غَزۡلَهَا مِنۡۢ بَعۡدِ قُوَّةٍ اَنۡكَاثًا ؕ تَتَّخِذُوۡنَ اَيۡمَانَكُمۡ دَخَلًاۢ بَيۡنَكُمۡ اَنۡ تَكُوۡنَ اُمَّةٌ هِىَ اَرۡبٰى مِنۡ اُمَّةٍ​ ؕ اِنَّمَا يَبۡلُوۡكُمُ اللّٰهُ بِهٖ ​ؕ وَلَيُبَيِّنَنَّ لَـكُمۡ يَوۡمَ الۡقِيٰمَةِ مَا كُنۡـتُمۡ فِيۡهِ تَخۡتَلِفُوۡنَ‏ ﴿16:92﴾ وَلَوۡ شَآءَ اللّٰهُ لَجَـعَلَكُمۡ اُمَّةً وَّاحِدَةً وَّلٰـكِنۡ يُّضِلُّ مَنۡ يَّشَآءُ وَيَهۡدِىۡ مَنۡ يَّشَآءُ​ ؕ وَلَـتُسۡـئَلُنَّ عَمَّا كُنۡتُمۡ تَعۡمَلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿16:93﴾

(16:91) And fulfil the covenant which you have made with Allah and do not break your oaths after having firmly made them, and after having made Allah your witness. Surely Allah knows all that you do. (16:92) And do not become like the woman who, after having painstakingly spun her yarn, caused it to disintegrate into pieces.90 You resort to oaths as instruments of mutual deceit so that one people might take greater advantage than another although Allah puts you to the test through this.91 Surely on the Day of Resurrection92 He will make clear the Truth concerning the matters over which you differed. (16:93) Had Allah so willed, He would have made you all one single community.93 However, He lets go astray whomsoever He wills and shows the Right Way to whomsoever He wills.94 Surely you shall be called to account regarding what you did.

Notes

90. In this verse, Allah has enjoined three kinds of covenants which have been mentioned in the order of their importance. The first of these covenants is the one between man and his Allah which is the most important of all. The second in importance is the covenant between one man or one group of men and another man or another group of men, which is taken with Allah as a witness or in which the name of God has been used. The third covenant is that which has been made without using Allah’s name. Though this is third in importance, its fulfillment is as important as that of the first two and the violation of any of these has been prohibited.

91. In this connection it should be noted that Allah has rebuked the people for the worst form of violation of treaties which has been creating the greatest disorder in the world. It is a pity that even big people consider it to be a virtue to violate treaties in order to gain advantages for their people in political, economic and religious conflicts. At one time the leader of one nation enters into a treaty with another nation for the interest of his own people but at another time the same leader publicly breaks the very same treaty for the interest of his people, or secretly violates it. It is an irony that such violations are made even by those people who are honest in their private lives. Moreover, it is regrettable that their own people do not protest against them; nay, they eulogize them for such shameful feats of diplomacy. Therefore, Allah warns that every such treaty is a test of the character of those who enter into it, and of their nations. They might gain some apparent advantage for their people in this way, but they will not escape their consequences on the Day of Judgment.

92. This is to warn that decision about differences and disputes that lead to conflict will be made on the Day of Judgment. Therefore, these should not be made an excuse to break agreements and treaties. Even if one is wholly in the right and the opponent is wholly in the wrong. It is not right for the former to break treaties or make false propaganda or employ other deceitful methods to defeat the other. If one does so, it will go against him on that Day because righteousness demands that one should not only be right in his theories and aims but should also use right methods and employ right means. This warning has especially been given to those religious groups and sects who always suffer from this misunderstanding that they have a right to defeat their opponents because they are on the side of God and their opponents are rebels against Allah. Therefore, there is no obligation on them to stick to their treaties with their opponents. This was what the Arab Jews practiced, declaring: There is no moral obligation on us in regard to the pagan Arabs, and we are rightly entitled to practice dishonesty and deceit that might be of advantage to us and harmful to the disbelievers.

93. This further supports the previous warning. It means that it would be wrong for any champion of Allah’s religion to arrogate to himself the use of every sort of method and means irrespective of whether they are right or wrong to propagate his own religion (considering it to be Allah’s religion) and try to destroy opposite religions. For this would be utterly against the will of Allah. If Allah had willed that there should be no religious differences, He could have deprived mankind of the freedom of choice. In that case, there would have been no need for Allah to get help of any such upholder of His religion, who uses disgraceful means for this purpose. Allah could have created all mankind to be inherent believers and obedient servants by depriving them of the power and option of disbelief and sin. Then there would have been none who could have dared to deviate from belief and obedience.

94. This is to show that Allah Himself has given man the power and freedom to follow any out of the many ways. That is why Allah makes arrangements for the guidance of the one who intends to follow the right way, and let go astray the one who desires to deviate.