Transliteration:( Wa laa takoonoo kallatee naqadat ghazlahaa mim ba'di quwwatin ankaasaa; tattakhizoona aimaanakum dakhalam bainakum an takoona ummatun hiya arbaa min ummah; innnamaa yablookumul laahu bih; wa la yubaiyinanna lakum yawmal Qiyaamati maa kuntum feehi takhtalifoon )
206. There lived a woman in the Holy city of Makkah called Rita bin Sa'd bin Tameem who was plagued by suspicion. Daily she would spin the yarn until midday, and make her maid do the same. Then, due to her anxiety and superstition she would cut this to shreds. This verse refers to the above incident.
207. It was the custom of the people of Arabia that they would enter into a treaty with one tribe. After finding someone more strong and wealthy, they would break the pact with the former and sign a pact with the latter, i.e. they were making their oaths a means of breach of promise. The example of this is the present practice of the leaders who make promises to voters at the time of elections, but never fulfil them.
208. This means that after entering a pact with one country we let you come across another nation which is more powerful than your ally as a test to see how true or false you are to your promises.
209. It should be remembered that on the Day of Judgement the sins of the infidels will be revealed to all, while no mention will be made about their good deeds. On the other hand, good deeds of the Muslims would be revealed to all, while their sins would either be forgiven or reckoning of these will be done secretly so as to avoid the embarrassment of the wrongdoers.
210. This means the practical judgement would take place on the Day of Judgement, while verbal judgement has been declared through the Prophets in this world as well. Thus, the above verse does not contradict these verses in which it has been declared that judgement has been passed. "Undoubtedly the QUR AAN is necessarily a decision word. And it is no merriment" (S86: Vs 13-14).
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The tafsir of Surah An-Nahl verse 92 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Nahl ayat 91 which provides the complete commentary from verse 91 through 92.
90. In this verse, Allah has enjoined three kinds of covenants which have been mentioned in the order of their importance. The first of these covenants is the one between man and his Allah which is the most important of all. The second in importance is the covenant between one man or one group of men and another man or another group of men, which is taken with Allah as a witness or in which the name of God has been used. The third covenant is that which has been made without using Allah’s name. Though this is third in importance, its fulfillment is as important as that of the first two and the violation of any of these has been prohibited.
91. In this connection it should be noted that Allah has rebuked the people for the worst form of violation of treaties which has been creating the greatest disorder in the world. It is a pity that even big people consider it to be a virtue to violate treaties in order to gain advantages for their people in political, economic and religious conflicts. At one time the leader of one nation enters into a treaty with another nation for the interest of his own people but at another time the same leader publicly breaks the very same treaty for the interest of his people, or secretly violates it. It is an irony that such violations are made even by those people who are honest in their private lives. Moreover, it is regrettable that their own people do not protest against them; nay, they eulogize them for such shameful feats of diplomacy. Therefore, Allah warns that every such treaty is a test of the character of those who enter into it, and of their nations. They might gain some apparent advantage for their people in this way, but they will not escape their consequences on the Day of Judgment.
92. This is to warn that decision about differences and disputes that lead to conflict will be made on the Day of Judgment. Therefore, these should not be made an excuse to break agreements and treaties. Even if one is wholly in the right and the opponent is wholly in the wrong. It is not right for the former to break treaties or make false propaganda or employ other deceitful methods to defeat the other. If one does so, it will go against him on that Day because righteousness demands that one should not only be right in his theories and aims but should also use right methods and employ right means. This warning has especially been given to those religious groups and sects who always suffer from this misunderstanding that they have a right to defeat their opponents because they are on the side of God and their opponents are rebels against Allah. Therefore, there is no obligation on them to stick to their treaties with their opponents. This was what the Arab Jews practiced, declaring: There is no moral obligation on us in regard to the pagan Arabs, and we are rightly entitled to practice dishonesty and deceit that might be of advantage to us and harmful to the disbelievers.
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