Verse. 1939

١٦ - ٱلنَّحْل

16 - An-Nahl

وَاَقْسَمُوْا بِاللہِ جَہْدَ اَيْمَانِہِمْ۝۰ۙ لَا يَبْعَثُ اللہُ مَنْ يَّمُوْتُ۝۰ۭ بَلٰى وَعْدًا عَلَيْہِ حَقًّا وَّلٰكِنَّ اَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُوْنَ۝۳۸ۙ
Waaqsamoo biAllahi jahda aymanihim la yabAAathu Allahu man yamootu bala waAAdan AAalayhi haqqan walakinna akthara alnnasi la yaAAlamoona

English

Ahmed Ali

They swear emphatically in the name of God that God will not raise the dead. On the contrary, it is a promise incumbent on Him, though most men do not understand,

38

Tafseer

'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī

تفسير : (and they swear by allah their most binding oaths) when a man swears by allah, he swears by his most binding oaths ((that) allah will not raise up him who dieth) that is after he dies. (nay, but it is a promise (binding) upon him) upon allah (in truth) that he will raise again him who dies is incumbent and it will surely happen, (but most of mankind) the people of mecca (know not) this nor believe in it,

Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī

تفسير : and they swear by god their most earnest oaths, in other words, with their utmost earnestness therein, that god will not resurrect the dead. god, exalted be he, says: nay, he will resurrect them: it is a promise binding upon him (both wa‘dan and haqqan are verbal nouns, used for emphasis, and are in the accusative because of the verbal actions implicit in them; in other words, he promised that and made it a binding truth) but most people, that is, the people of mecca, do not know, that.

Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi

تفسير : (and they swear by allah their most binding oaths (that) allah will not raise up him who dieth…) [16:38]. al-rabi‘ ibn anas reported from abu’l-‘aliyah: “a muslim man had a debt with an idolater and he went to ask for it to be paid. as they were talking, the muslim happened to say: ‘by him in whom i have hope after death’, and the idolater retorted: ‘and you claim you will be resurrected after death?’ and he swore by allah that allah will not resurrect those who die. allah, exalted is he, revealed this verse [to confirm the dead will be resurrected]”.