Tafsir of An-Nahl 16:7

(And they bear your loads) that is, your heavy burdens. Thiqal (loads) is the plural of thiql (weight/burden). It is also said that it means your bodies, as was said regarding the saying of the Almighty: "And the earth brings forth its burdens [athqalaha]," where "burdens" was interpreted as the bodies of the children of Adam.

(To a land) It is narrated from Ibn Abbas that this refers to Yemen, Syria, or Egypt. It is as if he considered that these were the trading destinations of the people of Mecca, as is suggested by what is in the Tafsir al-Khazin on his authority—may Allah be pleased with him—that he said: "He means from Mecca to Yemen and to Syria." In another narration from him, and from al-Rabi’ ibn Anas and ‘Ikrimah, it is said that the land is Mecca, as if they considered that their burdens and loads when returning from their travels were greater, and their need for beasts of burden more pressing. The apparent meaning is that it is general for every distant land. Abu Hayyan leaned toward this, considering what was mentioned regarding specific places as illustrative, as well as what was transmitted from some that it is the City of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—treating it as an example, not that the intended meaning is exclusively that specific place and no other.

(You could not have reached it) that is, you could not have arrived there yourselves, stripped of beasts of burden, let alone bearing your loads on your backs, if it were not for the cattle, and had they not been created, (except with great difficulty) meaning, splitting your souls and causing them exhaustion. It is also said that the meaning is: You would not have reached it with them [the cattle] except with what has been mentioned, and "with them" is omitted because the traveler is inevitably in need of loads. The intent is to alert [the reader] to the distance of the land, and that even with the assistance of the cattle in bearing the loads, you would not reach it except with hardship. It is not hidden that the first [interpretation] is more eloquent.

Mujahid, al-A‘raj, Abu Ja‘far, ‘Amr ibn Mu‘ayn, and Ibn Arqam read shaqq with a fat-ha on the shin. This is also narrated from Nafi‘ and Ibn ‘Amr. Both are valid linguistic forms, and the meaning is as stated previously. It is said that ash-shaqq with a fat-ha is the verbal noun, and with a kasra it is the substantive noun, meaning hardship. Regarding the kasra carrying this meaning, there is the verse: "And he who has camels, strives and reckons them his... through their hardship and toil," where he meant their difficulty. Al-Farra’ states that the fat-ha version is the verbal noun derived from shaqqa al-amr ‘alayhi shaqqan (the matter became difficult for him), and its reality refers to the shaqq which is a split or fissure. The kasra version refers to "a half." It is said: "I took the shaqq of the goat," meaning its half. The phrase also appears: "Fear the Fire, even if with half (shaqq) a date." The meaning [here] is: except by the loss of half your souls, as if the souls melt from exhaustion and fatigue due to the difficulty that befalls them, as one says: "You cannot accomplish such-and-such except by the loss of most of your soul or a piece of your liver." It is a metaphor. Some permitted that it be interpreted as having an omitted genitive, meaning: "except with a great splitting of the souls." The exclusion is mufarragh (unrestricted); that is, you could not reach it by any means except with the difficulty of souls.

Abu al-Baqa’ placed the prepositional phrase in the position of a circumstantial qualifier (hal) for the pronominal subject in "reach it," meaning: "in a state of being hard-pressed." The pronoun in "bear" refers to the cattle, but the mentioned bearing is in consideration of some types of them, namely camels, which is a common occurrence. From this, the weakness of the argument of those who use this reference to claim that "cattle" in the preceding text means only camels becomes apparent.

The shift in the noble structure, which previously indicated that the cattle were the axis of blessings, to the verbal form [bearing], which indicates occurrence, is said to be to intimate that this blessing is not universal in its origin, its relation, or in its inclusion of all times and consistency in all customary occasions, as the previous blessings were. It is limited in its origin—as you have heard—to camels, and in its relation to those who move about the earth for trade and other purposes at inconsistent times. As for the rest of the counted blessings, they exist in all categories and are general to all those addressed, always, in all times.

The Imam, who denies the miracles (karamat) of the saints, argued using this verse, because it indicates that it is not possible for a human to move from one land to another except with great difficulty and by carrying heavy loads on camels. Those who affirm miracles say: Indeed, the saints may move from one far land to another in a short time without fatigue or bearing hardship; therefore, that would be contrary to the verse and thus void. And if it is void in this instance, it is void in all, as no one claims a distinction. He [the Imam] answered that we specify the generality of the verse with the evidence indicating the occurrence of miracles.

Perhaps those who do not affirm the folding of distance for saints rely on this verse, but these [people] do not deny miracles absolutely, so his statement, "as no one claims a distinction," is invalid. Whoever is fair knows that using this [verse] as an argument for this subject is something that is hardly worth considering, given that it is presented for the purpose of bestowing favor (imtinan), and it suffices for that purpose that this existence [of hardship] occurs in most times for most people. Understand this.

(Indeed, your Lord is Full of Kindness, Most Merciful) and for that, He has bestowed upon you generous blessings and facilitated for you the difficult and arduous matters.