وَ قَالَ And Allah has said اللّٰهُ And Allah has said لَا (Do) not تَتَّخِذُوْۤا take اِلٰهَیْنِ [two] gods اثْنَیْنِ ۚ two اِنَّمَا only هُوَ He اِلٰهٌ (is) God وَّاحِدٌ ۚ One فَاِیَّایَ so Me Alone فَارْهَبُوْنِ you fear [Me] وَ لَهٗ And to Him (belongs) مَا whatever فِی (is) in السَّمٰوٰتِ the heavens وَ الْاَرْضِ and the earth وَ لَهُ and to Him الدِّیْنُ (is due) the worship وَاصِبًا ؕ constantly اَفَغَیْرَ Then is it other (than) اللّٰهِ Allah تَتَّقُوْنَ you fear وَ مَا And whatever بِكُمْ you have مِّنْ of نِّعْمَةٍ favor فَمِنَ (is) from اللّٰهِ Allah ثُمَّ Then اِذَا when مَسَّكُمُ touches you الضُّرُّ the adversity فَاِلَیْهِ then to Him تَجْـَٔرُوْنَۚ you cry for help ثُمَّ Then اِذَا when كَشَفَ He removes الضُّرَّ the adversity عَنْكُمْ from you اِذَا behold! فَرِیْقٌ A group مِّنْكُمْ of you بِرَبِّهِمْ with their Lord یُشْرِكُوْنَۙ associate others 16. An-Nahl Page 273 لِیَكْفُرُوْا So as to deny بِمَاۤ that which اٰتَیْنٰهُمْ ؕ We have given them فَتَمَتَّعُوْا ۫ Then enjoy yourselves فَسَوْفَ soon تَعْلَمُوْنَ you will know وَ یَجْعَلُوْنَ And they assign لِمَا to what لَا not یَعْلَمُوْنَ they know نَصِیْبًا a portion مِّمَّا of what رَزَقْنٰهُمْ ؕ We have provided them تَاللّٰهِ By Allah لَتُسْـَٔلُنَّ surely you will be asked عَمَّا about what كُنْتُمْ you used (to) تَفْتَرُوْنَ invent وَ یَجْعَلُوْنَ And they assign لِلّٰهِ to Allah الْبَنٰتِ daughters سُبْحٰنَهٗ ۙ Glory be to Him! وَ لَهُمْ And for them مَّا (is) what یَشْتَهُوْنَ they desire وَ اِذَا And when بُشِّرَ is given good news اَحَدُهُمْ (to) one of them بِالْاُنْثٰی of a female ظَلَّ turns وَجْهُهٗ his face مُسْوَدًّا dark وَّ هُوَ and he كَظِیْمٌۚ suppresses grief یَتَوَارٰی He hides himself مِنَ from الْقَوْمِ the people مِنْ (because) of سُوْٓءِ the evil مَا of what بُشِّرَ he has been given good news بِهٖ ؕ about اَیُمْسِكُهٗ Should he keep it عَلٰی in هُوْنٍ humiliation اَمْ or یَدُسُّهٗ bury it فِی in التُّرَابِ ؕ the dust اَلَا Unquestionably سَآءَ evil مَا (is) what یَحْكُمُوْنَ they decide لِلَّذِیْنَ For those who لَا (do) not یُؤْمِنُوْنَ believe بِالْاٰخِرَةِ in the Hereafter مَثَلُ (is) a similitude السَّوْءِ ۚ (of) the evil وَ لِلّٰهِ and for Allah الْمَثَلُ (is) the similitude الْاَعْلٰی ؕ the Highest وَ هُوَ And He الْعَزِیْزُ (is) the All-Mighty الْحَكِیْمُ۠ All-Wise
(16:51) Allah has commanded: "Do not take two gods;43 for He is but One God. So fear Me alone."
(16:52) His is whatever is in the heavens and the earth, and obedience to Him inevitably pervades the whole universe.44 Will you, then, hold in awe any other than Allah?45
(16:53) Every bounty that you enjoy is from Allah; and whenever any misfortune strikes you, it is to Him that you cry for the removal of your distress.46
(16:54) But as soon as He removes the distress from you, some of you associate others with their Lord47 in giving thanks,
(16:55) that they may show ingratitude for the bounties We bestowed upon them. So enjoy yourselves for a while, soon you will come to know (the truth).
(16:56) They set apart for those, whose reality they do not even know,4849 a portion of the sustenance We have provided them. By Allah, you will surely be called to account for the lies that you have invented!
(16:57) They assign daughters to Allah50 - glory be to Him - whereas they assign to themselves what they truly desire!51
(16:58) When any of them is told about the birth of a female his face turns dark, and he is filled with suppressed anger,
(16:59) and he hides himself from people because of the bad news, thinking: should he keep the child despite disgrace, or should he bury it in dust? How evil is their estimate of Allah!52
(16:60) Those who do not believe in the Hereafter deserve to be characterized with evil attributes whereas Allah's are the most excellent attributes. He is the Most Mighty, the Most Wise.
43. The negation of two gods naturally includes the negation of more than two gods.
44. In other words, obedience to God is the axis around which the whole system of the universe revolves.
45. People are asked whether fear of any being other than the One True God, and desire to escape His wrath constitute an appropriate basis for man’s life?
46. The fact that man instantly turns to God alone in moments of distress is a clear testimony embedded in man’s own being. When faced with a serious crisis, all false notions woven by human fancies are shattered, and the true nature of man comes forward. This is the nature which knows none other than the One True God to be the true deity, the lord, the all-powerful master! (For further explanation see Towards Understanding the Qur’an, vol. I, al-An‘am 6, nn. 29 and 41, pp. 231-3 and 239-40, and Yunus 10, n. 31 above.)
47. Once the crisis is over, men are wont to join others — saints, gods and goddesses — with God in giving thanks and making offerings and sacrifices. By so doing, they are saying that in addition to God there are also others who had a hand in the kindness shown by God. The fact is that they believe that had these beings not been kind to them and had they not urged God to kindness, He would not have shown them any kindness.
48. The unbelievers have no reliable means of knowing whether God has associated anyone in His divinity and whether He has delegated any of His tasks to others; or whether or not He Has Placed any part of His realm into the care of others.
49. This refers to the sacrifices and offerings which people make to deities out of their earnings, and to the portion of their agricultural produce which they exclusively allocate for their gods and goddesses.
50. In the pantheon of Arabia, goddesses outnumbered gods. These goddesses were conceived to be the daughters of God. Likewise, angels were also considered to be God’s daughters.
51. That is, sons.
52. The attitude of the unbelievers was tantalizingly self-contradictory. On the one hand, they considered it a matter of shame to have daughters, and on the other, they had no compunction in saying that God had daughters.
Notwithstanding the gross ignorance and blasphemy in the claim that God had children, the unbelievers are specially reproached for cherishing a concept of God which, in terms of their own conception, showed God in an unfavorable light. Polytheistic beliefs had made them so blasphemous, insolent, and insensitive to God’s majesty that they had no hesitation in saying whatever they wished about God.