'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (and be not) in terms of breaking pledges (like unto her) i.e. ra'itah, the fool (who unravelleth the thread, after she has made it strong, to thin filaments, making your oaths) your pledges (a deceit) and treachery (between you because of a nation) a group (being more numerous than (another) nation) another group. (allah only trieth you thereby) he tests you with your numerousness; and it is also said: he tests you with the breaking of pledges, (and he verily will explain to you on the day of resurrection that wherein ye differed) in the matter of religion.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and do not be like her who undoes, spoils, her yarn, that which she has spun, after having made it strong, [having] set and spun it, [breaking it up] into fibres (ankāthan is a circumstantial qualifier, [ankāth is] the plural of nikth, and means that which is undone [yunkathu]) — this was an imbecile meccan woman who used to spin all day and then undo it — by making (tattakhidhūna is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person of [the verb] takūnū, ‘[do not] be like’), in other words, [what is meant is] ‘do not be like her by making’, your oaths a [means of] deceit, (dakhal, is what enters [yadkhulu] into something but does not belong to it), in other words, as [a means of causing] mischief or as trickery, between you, by breaking these [oaths], so that one group may become more numerous than [another] group. they used to enter into an alliance with a given group, but if they encountered another more numerous and more powerful [group], they would renege on their alliance with the former and forge a [new] alliance with these [latter]. god only tries, tests, you thereby, in other words, by that which he enjoins, in the way of fulfilling the covenant, so that he may observe the obedient and the disobedient among you, or when [it is the case that] one group is more numerous [than another], that he may observe whether you fulfil [your obligation to them] or not; and certainly he will make clear to you on the day of resurrection that wherein you used to differ, during [the life of] this world, with regard to covenants and otherwise, by punishing he who reneged and rewarding he who was faithful [to his covenant].
