La yukallifu Allahu nafsan illa wusAAaha laha ma kasabat waAAalayha ma iktasabat rabbana la tuakhithna in naseena aw akhtana rabbana wala tahmil AAalayna isran kama hamaltahu AAala allatheena min qablina rabbana wala tuhammilna ma la taqata lana bihi waoAAfu AAanna waighfir lana wairhamna anta mawlana faonsurna AAala alqawmi alkafireena
English
Ahmed Ali
God does not burden a soul beyond capacity. Each will enjoy what (good) he earns, as indeed each will suffer from (the wrong) he does. Punish us not, O Lord, if we fail to remember or lapse into error. Burden us not, O Lord, with a burden as You did those before us. Impose not upon us a burden, O Lord, we cannot carry. Overlook our trespasses and forgive us, and have mercy upon us; You are our Lord and Master, help us against the clan of unbelievers.
286
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : by way of response, allah said: (allah tasketh not a soul) in relation to acts of obedience (beyond its scope) beyond its capability. (for it (is only) that which it hath earned) of good, and of leaving the discourse of the soul, forgetfulness, error and coercion, (and against it (only) that which it hath deserved) of evil, the discourse of the soul, forgetfulness, and coercion. allah taught the believers thereafter how they should pray to him so as to lift the discourse of the soul, error, forgetfulness and coercion from them, saying that they should supplicate thus: (our lord!) o our lord! (condemn us not if we forget) to obey you, (or miss the mark!) regarding your command (our lord!) o our lord! (lay not on us such a burden) a covenant which, if we fail to honour, you will prohibit us from wholesome things (as thou didst) as you made it unlawful (on those before us!) on the children of israel because they broke your covenant regarding wholesome things: the meat of camels, the fat of bovines, small cattle and other things. (our lord!) o our lord! (impose not on us that which we have not the strength to bear!) that in which there is no comfort or benefit for us, and this is what is meant by coercion. (pardon us) all this, (absolve us) from it (and have mercy on us) by means of it. (thou, our protector) you are more deserving of protecting us; (and give us victory over the disbelieving folk). it is also said that the meaning is as follows: (pardon us) by not turning us into animals as you turned some of the people of jesus into animals, (absolve us) from making the ground swallow us up as you made the ground swallow up korah (qarun); (and have mercy on us) by not being tossed up by the waves as you did to the people of lot. when the believer called upon allah with this supplication, allah lifted from them the discourse of the soul, forgetfulness, error, coercion and absolved them from being turned into animals, making the ground swallow them or being tossed by the waves. all those who follow in their footsteps will be absolved from the same.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : god charges no soul save to its capacity, that is, what it is capable of bearing; for it is what it has merited, of good and its reward, and against it is what it has earned, of evil and its burden: no person shall be requited for another’s sin or for what he has not earned, even if he was tempted to do it. say: our lord, take us not to task, by way of chastisement, if we forget, or err, by straying from the right path unknowingly — as you used to take to task those before us: god has lifted this [burden] from this community, as reported in hadīth. the petition here, then, is a way of acknowledging god’s favour; our lord, burden us not with a load, an affair which we cannot bear, such as you did lay upon those before us, namely, upon the children of israel, as for example, the killing of oneself in repentance, the paying of a quarter of one’s property for alms, and the severing of the impure part. our lord, do not burden us beyond what we have the power, the strength, to bear, of obligations and trials; and pardon us, effacing our sins, and forgive us, and have mercy on us, with mercy added to your forgiveness; you are our patron, our master and the guardian of our affairs; so grant us assistance against the disbelieving folk, by establishing definitive proof [for us] and victory over them in battle, for it is expected of a patron that he assist his clients against their enemies. in a hadīth it is stated that when this verse was revealed and the prophet (s) was reciting it, after each word it was said to him, “granted”.
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : god charges no soul save to its capacity…[sahl said]:that is, what it can bear; …for it, is what it has merited…, that is, its reward for righteous deed[s], …and against it, is what it has earned…, meaning, the burden of sins.’then he said:whoever is not concerned with his past sins will not be protected in the days that remain. moreover, whoever is not protected in his remaining days will be among those who perish on their final return.he was asked, ‘when does a man know his own sins?’ he replied:when he preserves the lights of his heart and does not allow anything to enter it or depart from it without [first] weighing it up, then he will know his own sins. furthermore, whoever opens for himself a door to goodness, will find that god opens for him seventy doors to divinely-bestowed success (tawfīq). on the other hand, whoever opens for himself a door to evil, will find that god opens to him seventy doors to evil whence the servant will not know. every heart that preoccupies itself with that which does not concern it will be punished immediately by missing out on that which is its [genuine] concern at that moment (fī’l-ḥāl). no one knows this except those who know god.
