Tafseer Ibn Kathir of AN NISAA' [116]

116. Verily, Allah forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners (in worship) with Him, but He forgives whom He wills, sins other than that, and whoever sets up partners in worship with Allah, has indeed strayed far away. 117. They invoke nothing but female deities besides Him (Allah), and they invoke nothing but Shaytan, a persistent rebel! 118. Allah cursed him. And he ﴿Shaytan﴾ said: ”I will take an appointed portion of your servants.” 119. ”Verily, I will mislead them, and surely, I will arouse in them false desires; and certainly, I will order them to slit the ears of cattle, and indeed I will order them to change the nature created by Allah.'' And whoever takes Shaytan as a Wali instead of Allah, has surely suffered a manifest loss. 120. He ﴿Shaytan﴾ makes promises to them, and arouses in them false desires; and Shaytan's promises are nothing but deceptions. 121. The dwelling of such (people) is Hell, and they will find no way of escape from it. 122. And those who believe and do righteous good deeds, We shall admit them to the Gardens under which rivers flow (i.e. in Paradise) to dwell therein forever. Allah's promise is the truth; and whose words can be truer than those of Allah We talked about Allah's statement,

(Verily, Allah forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners (in worship) with Him, but He forgives whom He wills, sins other than that,) before and mentioned the relevant Hadiths in the beginning of this Surah. Allah's statement,

(and whoever sets up partners in worship with Allah, has indeed strayed far away.) means, he will have taken other than the true path, deviated from guidance and righteousness, destroyed himself in this life and the Hereafter, and lost contentment in this life and the Hereafter. Juwaybir said that Ad-Dahhak said about Allah's statement,

(They invoke nothing but female deities besides Him (Allah),) ”The idolators claimed that the angels are Allah's daughters, saying, `We only worship them so that they bring us closer to Allah.' So they took the angels as gods, made the shapes of girls and decided, `These (idols) resemble the daughters of Allah (i.e., the angels), Whom we worship. ''' This is similar to Allah's statements,

(Have you then considered Al-Lat and Al-`Uzza)

(And they make the angels who themselves are servants of the Most Gracious (Allah) females) and,

(And they have invented a kinship between Him and the Jinn). Allah's statement,

(and they invoke nothing but Shaytan, a persistent rebel!) means, Shaytan has commanded them to do this and made it seem fair and beautiful in their eyes. Consequently, they are worshipping Shaytan in reality, just as Allah said in another Ayah,

(Did I not command you, O Children of Adam, that you should not worship Shaytan) Allah said that, on the Day of Resurrection, the angels shall proclaim about the idolators who worshipped them in this life:

(Nay, but they used to worship the Jinn; most of them were believers in them). Allah's statement,

(Allah cursed him), means, He expelled him and banished him from His mercy and His grace.

(I will take an appointed portion of your servants) means, a fixed and known share. Muqatil bin Hayyan commented, ”From every one thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine will go to the Fire and one to Paradise.''

(Verily, I will mislead them) from the true path,

(and surely, I will arouse in them false desires;) tempting them to feign repentance, arousing false hopes in them, encouraging them to delay and procrastinate with righteous deeds, deceiving them.

(and certainly, I will order them to slit the ears of cattle,) meaning, slitting their ears to designate them as Bahirah, Sa'ibah, and a Wasilah, as Qatadah and As-Suddi stated.

(And indeed I will order them to change the nature created by Allah.) means tattooing, according to Al-Hasan bin Abi Al-Hasan Al-Basri. In his Sahih, Muslim recorded the prohibition of tattooing the face, which in one of its wordings states: ”May Allah curse whoever does this.'' It is also recorded in the Sahih that Ibn Mas`ud said, ”May Allah curse those who have tattoos and those who do it, who pluck their (facial) hairs and the one who does it for them, and those who make spaces between their teeth for the purpose of beauty, changing what Allah has created.'' He then said, ”Why should not I curse whom the Messenger of Allah has cursed, when the Book of Allah commands it,'' referring to the Ayah,

(And whatsoever the Messenger gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it)). Allah's statement,

(And whoever takes Shaytan as a Wali (protector or helper) instead of Allah, has surely suffered a manifest loss.) means, he will have lost this life and the Hereafter. Indeed, this is a type of loss that cannot be compensated or restored. Allah's statement,

(He ï´¿Shaytanï´¾ makes promises to them, and arouses in them false desires;) explains the true reality. Surely, Shaytan deceitfully promises his supporters and tempts them into believing that they are winners in this and the Hereafter. This is why Allah said,

(and Shaytan's promises are nothing but deceptions.) Allah states that on the Day of Return,

(And Shaytan will say when the matter has been decided: ”Verily, Allah promised you a promise of truth. And I too promised you, but I betrayed you. I had no authority over you), until,

(Verily, there is a painful torment for the wrongdoers.) Allah's statement,

(of such (people)) refers to those who like and prefer what Shaytan is promising and assuring them of,

(The dwelling of such (people) is Hell), as their destination and abode on the Day of Resurrection,

(and they will find no way of escape from it.), meaning, they will not be able to avoid, avert, evade or elude the Hellfire. Allah then mentions the condition of the content righteous believers and the perfect honor they will earn in the end. Allah said,

(And those who believe and do righteous good deeds,) meaning, their hearts were truthful and their limbs obedient with the righteous acts they were commanded, all the while abandoning the evil they were prohibited from doing.

(We shall admit them to Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise)) meaning, they will think of where they want these rivers to flow and they will flow there,

(to dwell therein forever), without end or being removed from it.

(Allah's promise is the truth), meaning, this is a true promise from Allah, and verily, Allah's promise shall come to pass. Allah then said,

(and whose words can be truer than those of Allah) meaning, none is more truthful in statement and narration than Allah. There is no deity worthy of worship, or Lord except Him. The Messenger of Allah used to proclaim in his speech,

(The most truthful speech is Allah's Speech, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The worst matters are the newly invented (in religion), every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is a heresy, and every heresy is in the Fire.)