ﱽ ﱾ ﱿ ﲀ ﲁ ﲂ ﲃ ﲄ ﲅ ﲆ ﲇ ﲈ ﲉ ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ ﲎ ﲏ ﲐ ﲑ
And fulfill the covenant of Allah when you have taken it, [O believers], and do not break oaths after their confirmation while you have made Allah, over you, a witness. Indeed, Allah knows what you do.
Tafsir
Verse range: 16:91
"And fulfill the covenant of Allah..."
The covenant of Allah: This is the pledge of allegiance (bayʿah) to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to embrace Islam, as in: "Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you are actually pledging allegiance to Allah" (Al-Fatḥ: 10).
"And do not break the oaths..." The oaths of allegiance.
"After their confirmation..." Meaning: after having secured and strengthened them by the Name of Allah. Akkada and wakkada are two eloquent linguistic variants; the root is with a wāw, and the hamzah is a substitute.
"As a witness..." Meaning: a guarantor and an observer. For the guarantor (kafīl) is one who watches over the state of the one he has guaranteed and oversees him.
"And do not be like the woman who unraveled her yarn..." Do not be, in your breaking of oaths, like the woman who unraveled her spinning after she had made it firm and tight, turning it into ankāth—the plural of nakth, which is that which has had its twist undone.
It is said: She was Rayṭah bint Saʿd ibn Taym, a foolish woman. She had a spindle a cubit long, a hook the size of a finger, and a whorl disproportionately large. She and her maids would spin from morning until noon, then she would order them to unravel what they had spun.
"Taking your oaths as a means of deception..." Tattakhidhūna (taking) is a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl), and dakhalan (deception) is one of the two objects of tattakhidhūna. It means: Do not break your oaths while taking them as a dakhal—that is, corruption and deceit—among yourselves.
"Because one nation is more numerous than another nation..." Meaning: because one group—the Quraysh—is greater in number and more abundant in wealth than another group—the believers.
"Allah only tests you with this..." The pronoun refers to the phrase "that one nation is more numerous," as it carries the meaning of a verbal noun. It means: Allah is only testing you by their being more numerous, to see if you will hold fast to the rope of fulfilling the covenant of Allah and the oaths of allegiance you have bound upon yourselves and confirmed to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), or if you will be deceived by the numbers, wealth, and power of the Quraysh, and the scarcity, poverty, and weakness of the believers.
"And He will surely make clear to you..." This is a warning and a caution against deviating from the path of Islam.
"And if Allah had willed, He could have made you one nation; but He sends astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And you will surely be questioned about what you used to do."
