Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 16 An-Nahl, Ayat 22-25

اِلٰهُكُمۡ اِلٰهٌ وَّاحِدٌ​​ ۚ فَالَّذِيۡنَ لَا يُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ بِالۡاٰخِرَةِ قُلُوۡبُهُمۡ مُّنۡكِرَةٌ وَّهُمۡ مُّسۡتَكۡبِرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿16:22﴾ لَا جَرَمَ اَنَّ اللّٰهَ يَعۡلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّوۡنَ وَمَا يُعۡلِنُوۡنَ​ؕ اِنَّهٗ لَا يُحِبُّ الۡمُسۡتَكۡبِرِيۡنَ‏ ﴿16:23﴾ وَاِذَا قِيۡلَ لَهُمۡ مَّاذَاۤ اَنۡزَلَ رَبُّكُمۡ​ۙ قَالُـوۡۤا اَسَاطِيۡرُ الۡاَوَّلِيۡنَۙ‏ ﴿16:24﴾ لِيَحۡمِلُوۡۤا اَوۡزَارَهُمۡ كَامِلَةً يَّوۡمَ الۡقِيٰمَةِ​ۙ وَمِنۡ اَوۡزَارِ الَّذِيۡنَ يُضِلُّوۡنَهُمۡ بِغَيۡرِ عِلۡمٍ​ؕ اَلَا سَآءَ مَا يَزِرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿16:25﴾

(16:22) Your God is the One God. But the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter are steeped in rejection of the Truth, and they are given to arrogance.20 (16:23) Surely Allah knows all that they conceal and all that they disclose. He certainly does not love those who are steeped in arrogance. (16:24) When21 they are asked: "What is it that your Lord has revealed?" They answer: "They are merely tales of olden times!"22 (16:25) (They say so) that they may bear the full weight of their burdens on the Day of Resurrection and also of the burdens of those whom they misled on account of their ignorance. What a heavy burden are they undertaking to bear!


Notes

20. That is, those who do not believe in the life in the Hereafter, have become so irresponsible, carefree and intoxicated with the life of this world, that they feel no hesitation or pang in denying any reality, and they put no value on or attach no worth to truth. That is why, they are not prepared to impose any moral restraint on themselves and feel no need to investigate as to whether the way, they are following is right or wrong.

21. In the preceding (Ayat 23) those arrogant people who were rejecting the message were warned that Allah has full knowledge of all their deeds. Now from (Ayat 24) the Quran takes up those deeds one by one and deals with the arguments they presented against the Messenger (peace be upon him), the objections they raised and the lame excuses they invented for their rejection, and reproaches and admonishes them.

22. One of their cunning devices was to create doubts about the Quran. Whenever outsiders came to visit Makkah, they would naturally make inquiries about the Quran, which the Prophet (peace be upon him) declared, was being sent down to him by Allah. The disbelievers would answer that it contained merely fairy tales of the ancients. They would say such things in order to create doubts in the minds of the inquirers so that they should not take any interest in the message of the Prophet (peace be upon him).