Tafseer of The Bee · An-Nahl · 16:7
And they carry your loads to a land you could not have reached except with difficulty to yourselves. Indeed, your Lord is Kind and Merciful.
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.
His statement وَتَحْمِلُ أَثْقَالَكُمْ إِلَى بَلَدٍ لَمْ تَكُونُوا بَالِغِيهِ إِلا بِشِقِّ الأنْفُسِ (and they bear your burdens to a land you would not reach except with great difficulty to yourselves): that is to say — and this livestock bears your burdens to another land that you would not reach except with great exertion of your souls and immense hardship.
As Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning وَتَحْمِلُ أَثْقَالَكُمْ إِلَى بَلَدٍ لَمْ تَكُونُوا بَالِغِيهِ إِلا بِشِقِّ الأنْفُسِ : he said: "if you were to undertake it by your own strength, you would reach it only with great difficulty."
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning إِلَى بَلَدٍ لَمْ تَكُونُوا بَالِغِيهِ إِلا بِشِقِّ الأنْفُسِ : he said: "if you were to undertake it by your own strength, you would reach it only with great difficulty."
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: al-Ḥammānī related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning إِلَى بَلَدٍ لَمْ تَكُونُوا بَالِغِيهِ إِلا بِشِقِّ الأنْفُسِ : he said: "the land is Mecca."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us; and al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us; and al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbdullāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ — all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah إِلا بِشِقِّ الأنْفُسِ : he said: "a hardship for you."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — the like of the foregoing.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the statement وَتَحْمِلُ أَثْقَالَكُمْ إِلَى بَلَدٍ لَمْ تَكُونُوا بَالِغِيهِ إِلا بِشِقِّ الأنْفُسِ : he said: "with the exertion of the souls."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda — similarly.
The Qurʾān-reciters have differed over its reading. Most of the reciters of the great cities read it with a kasra on the shīn إِلا بِشِقِّ الأنْفُسِ , except for Abū Jaʿfar al-Qāriʾ. For al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥammād related to us, saying: Abū Saʿīd al-Rāzī related to me, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, the reciter of Medina, that he read: "lam takūnū bālighīhi illā bi-shaqqi al-anfus" with a fatḥa on the shīn, and he said: "for shaqq is the splitting of the soul." Ibn Abī Ḥammād said: Muʿādh al-Harrāʾ used to say: "it is a linguistic variation — the Arabs say bi-shaqq and bi-shiqq, and bi-raqq and bi-riqq."
The correct reading in our judgment is that upon which the reciters of the great cities have agreed, namely with a kasra on the shīn — because of the consensus of the authoritative reciters upon it and the anomalous standing of what deviates from it. This verse may be recited with both a kasra and a fatḥa on the shīn, as in the statement of the poet:
"A possessor of camels who toils hard for them and reckons them as his own — a man of striving, through their effort and their perseverance."
And "min shaqqi-hā" may likewise be with both a kasra and a fatḥa on the shīn. So too the statement of al-ʿAjjāj: "Masḥūl begins to overcome hardship" — and "shaqq" may be with both a fatḥa and a kasra on the shīn. By "yuwāzī shaqq" he means: he endures hardship. Some of the grammarians associate the fatḥa on the shīn with the verbal noun of the verb "shaqaqtu ʿalayhi ashiqqu shaqq-an," and the kasra on the shīn with the noun. It is also possible that those who read with a kasra on the shīn meant: except by the wearing away of strength and the loss of part of it, so that one reaches it only after the loss of strength — and the meaning would then be: you would not reach it except after the squandering of half of your strength. It is related from the Arabs: "take this shaqq" for half of a slaughtered sheep — with a kasra on the shīn. But for "shaqtu ʿalayka shaqq-an" only the fatḥa pronunciation has been related.
His statement إِنَّ رَبَّكُمْ لَرَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ (truly, your Lord is Most Kind, Most Merciful): Allah, the Exalted, says: truly, your Lord, O people, is full of compassion toward you and mercy — and out of His mercy for you He created for you the livestock for your benefits and advantages, and He created the heavens and the earth as signs for you concerning the oneness of your Lord and the knowledge of your God, so that you may be grateful to Him for His favors upon you, that He may grant you more of His bounty.
