Tafseer of The Pleading Woman · Al-Mujaadila · 58:16
They took their [false] oaths as a cover, so they averted [people] from the way of Allah, and for them is a humiliating punishment.
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.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: اتَّخَذُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ جُنَّةً فَصَدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُهِينٌ ("They have taken their oaths as a shield and thereby turned away from the path of Allah, so for them there is a humiliating punishment") (58:16).
His saying: اتَّخَذُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ جُنَّةً ("They have taken their oaths as a shield") — the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: they have taken their swearing and their oaths as a shield (junna) with which they protect themselves against being killed and with which they ward off (harm) from their lives, their possessions, and their offspring. This is because, when their hypocrisy (nifāq) came to light, they would swear by Allah to the believers that they truly belonged to them. فَصَدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("and thereby turned away from the path of Allah") — the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: thus, with their oaths which they had taken as a shield, they turned the believers away from the path of Allah with respect to them. That is so because they were disbelievers, and the ruling of Allah and His path concerning those who disbelieve in Him among the People of the Book is the death penalty, or the taking of the head-tax for non-Muslims (jizyah), and concerning the idol-worshippers the death penalty. Thus the hypocrites turn the believers away from the path of Allah with respect to them, by their oaths that they are believers and that they belong to them; and thereby they stand between the believers and the killing of them, and protect themselves thereby against that against which the believers in Allah are protected.
His saying: فَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُهِينٌ ("so for them there is a humiliating punishment") — He says: thus for them there is a punishment that humiliates them in the Fire.
