Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 16 An-Nahl, Ayat 51-60

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ لَا تَـتَّخِذُوۡۤا اِلٰهَيۡنِ اثۡنَيۡنِ​ۚ اِنَّمَا هُوَ اِلٰـهٌ وَّاحِدٌ​ ۚ فَاِيَّاىَ فَارۡهَبُوۡنِ‏ ﴿16:51﴾ وَلَهٗ مَا فِى السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الۡاَرۡضِ وَلَهُ الدِّيۡنُ وَاصِبًا​ ؕ اَفَغَيۡرَ اللّٰهِ تَـتَّـقُوۡنَ‏ ﴿16:52﴾ وَمَا بِكُمۡ مِّنۡ نّـِعۡمَةٍ فَمِنَ اللّٰهِ​ ثُمَّ اِذَا مَسَّكُمُ الضُّرُّ فَاِلَيۡهِ تَجْئَرُوۡنَ​ۚ‏ ﴿16:53﴾ ثُمَّ اِذَا كَشَفَ الضُّرَّ عَنۡكُمۡ اِذَا فَرِيۡقٌ مِّنۡكُمۡ بِرَبِّهِمۡ يُشۡرِكُوۡنَۙ‏ ﴿16:54﴾ لِيَكۡفُرُوۡا بِمَاۤ اٰتَيۡنٰهُمۡ​ؕ فَتَمَتَّعُوۡا​ فَسَوۡفَ تَعۡلَمُوۡنَ‏  ﴿16:55﴾ وَيَجۡعَلُوۡنَ لِمَا لَا يَعۡلَمُوۡنَ نَصِيۡبًا مِّمَّا رَزَقۡنٰهُمۡ​ؕ تَاللّٰهِ لَـتُسۡـئَلُنَّ عَمَّا كُنۡتُمۡ تَفۡتَرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿16:56﴾ وَيَجۡعَلُوۡنَ لِلّٰهِ الۡبَـنٰتِ سُبۡحٰنَهٗ​ۙ وَلَهُمۡ مَّا يَشۡتَهُوۡنَ‏  ﴿16:57﴾ وَاِذَا بُشِّرَ اَحَدُهُمۡ بِالۡاُنۡثٰى ظَلَّ وَجۡهُهٗ مُسۡوَدًّا وَّهُوَ كَظِيۡمٌ​ۚ‏ ﴿16:58﴾ يَتَوَارٰى مِنَ الۡقَوۡمِ مِنۡ سُوۡۤءِ مَا بُشِّرَ بِهٖ ؕ اَيُمۡسِكُهٗ عَلٰى هُوۡنٍ اَمۡ يَدُسُّهٗ فِى التُّـرَابِ​ ؕ اَلَا سَآءَ مَا يَحۡكُمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿16:59﴾ لِلَّذِيۡنَ لَا يُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ بِالۡاٰخِرَةِ مَثَلُ السَّوۡءِ​ۚ وَلِلّٰهِ الۡمَثَلُ الۡاَعۡلٰى​ ؕ وَهُوَ الۡعَزِيۡزُ الۡحَكِيۡمُ‏ ﴿16:60﴾

(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,48,49 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.


Notes

43. Negation of two gods by itself negates the existence of more than two gods.

44. In other words it means that the entire system of the universe exists on its obedience to Him.

45. That is, when it is so, will you then make the fear of any other than God the basis of the system of your life?

46. That is, the fact, that you run to Allah for help in your distress and not to anyone else, is a clear proof of the Oneness of Allah, which has been embedded in your own hearts. At the time of your affliction, your true nature, which had been suppressed by the gods you had forged, involuntarily comes to the surface and invokes Allah, for it knows no other god or lord or master, having any real power. (For further details please refer to (E.Ns 29 and 41 of Surah Al-Anaam).

47. That is, at the time of showing gratitude to Allah for removing his affliction, he begins to make offerings also to some god, goddess or saint to show that Allah’s kindness to him was due to the intercession of his patron, for he imagines that otherwise Allah would not have removed his distress.

48. They assign shares to those patrons about whom they have no authentic knowledge that God has made them His partners and allotted some duties of Godhead to them and made them governors of some territories in His Kingdom.

49. That is, they set apart a portion of their incomes and land products to make offerings of this to their patron.

50. This refers to a tradition of the ancient Arabs. They regarded their goddesses and angels as daughters of God.

51. That is, “sons.”

52. This attitude of contempt towards daughters has been mentioned to bring home to them the height of their folly, ignorance and impudence in regard to God. This is why they did not hesitate to assign daughters to Allah, though they themselves felt that to have daughters was a matter of disgrace for them. Besides this, it shows that they had a very low estimation of Allah, which had resulted from their ways of shirk. So they felt nothing wrong in ascribing such foolish and absurd things to Allah Who is above such things.