Tafsir of An-Nahl 16:94

It is said: This is an explicit prohibition against taking oaths as deceit, following the previous implicit mention. The aforementioned taking [of oaths] in the previous [verse] served as a condition for what was prohibited, thus alerting [the reader] to it implicitly, emphasizing and exaggerating the repulsiveness of what is forbidden, and preparing for the Almighty’s saying: "Lest a foot slip" from the path of truth, "after it was firm," and established therein by faith.

It is also said: The previous [verse] was a prohibition against entering into pacts and breaking covenants based on [numerical] minority or majority, whereas this is a prohibition against the "deceit" in oaths that are intended for the usurpation of rights. It is as if it were said: Do not take your oaths as a means of deception among yourselves to reach the point of severing the rights of the Muslims.

Abu Hayyan said: The prohibition is not repeated. The preceding [verse] was an information stating that they had taken their oaths as a deceit, qualified by a specific cause—namely, that one nation might be more numerous than another nation. The newly initiated, constructive prohibition [in this verse] is against taking oaths as a deceit in a general sense, thus encompassing all scenarios, including swearing in commerce, the severing of financial rights, and others. This was countered by the argument that a condition of a prohibited act is itself prohibited; therefore, the previous [verse] was not merely informational. Furthermore, there is no generality in the second [verse] because the Almighty’s saying, "Lest it slip," etc., is a sign pointing to the previous cause, generally speaking. Moreover, it may be said that the specific is mentioned within the general as well, so there is no escaping the repetition, even if what he mentioned were accepted. Reflect on this.

"Lest it slip" (tazilla) is in the subjunctive mood due to an implied an (that) following the response to the prohibition, to clarify what results from it and is necessitated by it. In al-Bahr, it is stated: It is a metaphor for falling into a grave matter, because when a foot slips, a person turns from a state of goodness to a state of evil. The singularization of the "foot" (qadam) and its indefiniteness—as al-Zamakhshari said—is to signal that the slipping of a single foot (that is, one that has become precious or disgraced) is a great calamity, so how much more so for [many] feet!

Abu Hayyan said: The plural is sometimes considered as a totality, and sometimes each individual unit is considered. In the first case, the predication takes into account the collectivity; in the second, the predication conforms to the word itself in the plural form—often [in this case], the thing to which it is predicated is pluralized—or it conforms to each individual, so it is singularized. An example is the Almighty’s saying: "And prepared for them a banquet" (muttaka'an), where He used the singular muttaka' because He considered each one of them individually. Had He intended the collective or the majority in the second aspect, He would have pluralized it. Based on this, one should interpret the saying: "For I found the lean ones, their sustenance dies, and the fertile ones perish, so quench [your hunger] from my vessel," meaning every lean one; hence, the pronoun was singularized in "dies" and "perishes." Since the meaning here is "let not each one of you take," the singular "a foot might slip" (tazilla qadam) was used, observing this meaning. Then He, the Sublime, said: "And you will taste evil," observing the plural or the plural form in the majority aspect. If we say the predication is for each individual, then the verse addresses the prohibition of taking oaths as a deceit both by considering the totality and by considering each individual; it indicated this by singularizing "foot" and pluralizing the pronoun in "and you will taste."

This was rebutted by the observation that what al-Zamakhshari mentioned is a subtle, esoteric point, whereas this [Abu Hayyan's view] is an explanation of the singularization from the perspective of Arabic grammar; thus, it does not contradict the aforementioned point. The meaning of "evil" is the worldly torment of killing, captivity, plunder, expulsion, and others that cause distress. The metaphor in "you taste" is evident.

"Because you hindered" [means] because of your obstruction and turning away, or your hindering others "from the path of Allah," which includes fulfilling covenants and oaths. For whoever breaks the pledge of allegiance and apostatizes sets a precedent for others, which those who follow him—among the people of wretchedness and aversion to the truth—will pursue, thus becoming obstructers of the path. Some have made this a proof that the verse concerns those who pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and it is as you see.

"And you will have," in the Hereafter, "a great torment," the magnitude of which none knows except Allah, the Exalted.