Tafseer of The Bee · An-Nahl · 16:27
Then on the Day of Resurrection He will disgrace them and say, "Where are My 'partners' for whom you used to oppose [the believers]?" Those who were given knowledge will say, "Indeed disgrace, this Day, and evil are upon the disbelievers" -
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah, exalted is His praise, says: Allah did to these scheme-plotting people — whose affair Allah, exalted is His praise, has described — in the worldly life what He did to them, namely the hastening of the punishment upon them and the requital of their disbelief and their denial of His oneness. Moreover, He will disgrace them on the Day of Resurrection, humiliate them with a painful torment, and say to them when they appear before Him: أَيْنَ شُرَكَائِيَ الَّذِينَ كُنتُمْ تُشَاقُّونَ فِيهِمْ (Where are My associates concerning whom you used to contend?). The root form is: "shāqaqtu fulānan fa-huwa yushāqqunī" — and this is when each of the two does to the other that which is grievous to him. Allah, exalted is His praise, says on the Day of Resurrection, striking them in the face with their worship of idols: "Where are My associates?" — that is to say: where are those whom you claimed in the worldly life to be My associates? Why are they not present to appear for you and to ward off from you the punishment that I am bringing upon you? For you worshipped them in the worldly life and took them as protectors — and a protector (walī) aids the one under his protection. Their contention with Allah concerning their idols consisted in their opposing Him therein through their worship of them.
As al-Muthanná related to me, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the words أَيْنَ شُرَكَائِيَ الَّذِينَ كُنتُمْ تُشَاقُّونَ فِيهِمْ : he said: you opposed Me therein.
The words إِنَّ الْخِزْيَ الْيَوْمَ وَالسُّوءَ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ — by this He means: the disgrace (al-dhilla) and the abasement (al-hawān) and the evil (al-sūʾ) — that is to say: the punishment of Allah — are upon the disbelievers (al-kāfirīn).
