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Tafsir

Scholarly commentary explaining a verse — its context, its meaning and how the scholars have understood it.

An-Nahl 16:89

Word by word

وَيَوْمَ نَبْعَثُ فِى كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ شَهِيدًا عَلَيْهِم مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ ۖ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ شَهِيدًا عَلَىٰ هَـٰٓؤُلَآءِ ۚ وَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ تِبْيَـٰنًا لِّكُلِّ شَىْءٍ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً وَبُشْرَىٰ لِلْمُسْلِمِينَ

And [mention] the Day when We will resurrect among every nation a witness over them from themselves [i.e., their prophet]. And We will bring you, [O Muḥammad], as a witness over these [i.e., your nation]. And We have sent down to you the Book as clarification for all things and as guidance and mercy and good tidings for the Muslims.

Ibn Kathir (Abridged) English Ma'arif al-Qur'an English Tafsir Muyassar Arabic Tafsir Ibn Kathir Arabic All sources

Ibn Kathir (Abridged)

Hafiz Ibn Kathir

Every Prophet will bear Witness against his Nation on the Day of Resurrection

Allah addressed His servant and Messenger Muhammad ﷺ, saying:وَيَوْمَ نَبْعَثُ فِى كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ شَهِيدًا عَلَيْهِمْ مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ شَهِيدًا عَلَى هَـؤُلآءِ(And on the Day when We resurrect a witness from each nation from among themselves, and We bring you (O Muhammad) as a witness against these.), meaning, your Ummah. The Ayah means: remember that Day and its terrors, and the great honor and high position that Allah has bestowed upon you. This Ayah is like the Ayah with which `Abdullah bin Mas`ud ended when he recited to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from the beginning of Surat An-Nisa'.

When he reached the Ayah:فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِن كُلِّ أمَّةٍ بِشَهِيدٍ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ عَلَى هَـؤُلاءِ شَهِيداً(How (will it be) then, when We bring from each nation a witness and We bring you (O Muhammad) as a witness against these) 4:41 the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him:«حَسْبُك»(Enough.) Ibn Mas`ud said: "I turned to him and saw his eyes streaming with tears."The Qur'an explains Everythingوَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَـبَ تِبْيَانًا لِّكُلِّ شَىْءٍ(And We revealed the Book (the Qur'an) to you as an explanation of everything,) Ibn Mas`ud said: "Allah made it clear that in this Qur'an there is complete knowledge and about everything." The Qur'an contains all kinds of beneficial knowledge, such as reports of what happened in the past, information about what is yet to come, what is lawful and unlawful, and what people need to know about their worldly affairs, their religion, their livelihood in this world, and their destiny in the Hereafter.وَهَدَى(a guidance) means, for their hearts.وَرَحْمَةً وَبُشْرَى لِلْمُسْلِمِينَ(a mercy, and good news for the Muslims.) Al-Awza`i said:وَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَـبَ تِبْيَانًا لِّكُلِّ شَىْءٍ(And We have revealed the Book (the Qur'an) as an explanation of everything,) meaning, with the Sunnah.

The is the reason why the phrase,وَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَـبَ(And We have revealed the Book to you) is mentioned immediately after the phrase,وَجِئْنَا بِكَ شَهِيدًا عَلَى هَـؤُلآءِ(And We shall bring you (O Muhammad) as a witness against these.

) the meaning - and Allah knows best - is that the One Who obligated you to convey the Book which He revealed to you, will also ask you about that on the Day of Resurrection.فَلَنَسْـَلَنَّ الَّذِينَ أُرْسِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَنَسْـَلَنَّ الْمُرْسَلِينَ(Then We shall indeed question those (people) to whom it (the Book) was sent and We shall indeed question the Messengers.) (7:6)فَوَرَبِّكَ لَنَسْـَلَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ - عَمَّا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ(So by your Lord We question them all about what they did.) (15:92-92)يَوْمَ يَجْمَعُ اللَّهُ الرُّسُلَ فَيَقُولُ مَاذَآ أُجِبْتُمْ قَالُواْ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَآ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ عَلَّـمُ الْغُيُوبِ(On the Day when Allah gathers the Messengers together and says to them: "What was the response you received (to your Message)" They will say: "We have no knowledge, indeed only You are the Knower of all that is hidden.") (5:109) And Allah says:إِنَّ الَّذِى فَرَضَ عَلَيْكَ الْقُرْءَانَ لَرَآدُّكَ إِلَى مَعَادٍ(Verily, He Who obligated the Qur'an upon you (O Muhammad) will surely bring you back to the return.) 28:85 meaning, the One Who gave you the obligation of conveying the Qur'an will bring you back to Him, and your return will be on the Day of Resurrection, and He will question you about you commission of the duty He gave you.

This is one of the opinions, and it presents a good understanding of it.

Ma'arif al-Qur'an

Mufti Muhammad Shafi

Commentary

In verse 89, by saying: وَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ تِبْيَانًا لِّكُلِّ شَيْءٍ the Qur'an has been credited as the exposition of everything. It means everything about the religion because the objective of Divine revelation and Prophetic mission concerns with these very things. Therefore, the very effort to cull out answers to problems pertaining to economic sciences from the Qur’ an is an exercise in error. However, the appearance of some implied hint some-where there shall not be deemed contrary to this. Now remains the question that the Qur’ an does not carry answers to all problems of the religion itself, how then, would it be correct to say that it is an exposition of everything'?

The answer is that the Qur’ an, does carry the basic principles concerning all problems, and it is in their light that the Ahadith of the Rasul of Allah clarify these problems. Then, there are some details which are delegated to the principles of Ijma` (consensus) and Al-Qiyas (analogical deduction following the norms set by the Shari` ah of Islam). This tells us that the religious rulings deduced from the Ahadith of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، and from Ijma` and Qiyas are also, in a way, as stated by the Qur’ an itself.

Tafsir Muyassar

Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Saudi Arabia

واذكر -أيها الرسول- حين نبعث يوم القيامة في كل أمة من الأمم شهيدًا عليهم، هو الرسول الذي بعثه الله إليهم من أنفسهم وبلسانهم، وجئنا بك -أيها الرسول- شهيدًا على أمتك، وقد نَزَّلْنا عليك القرآن توضيحًا لكل أمر يحتاج إلى بيان، كأحكام الحلال والحرام، والثواب والعقاب، وغير ذلك، وليكون هداية من الضلال، ورحمة لمن صدَّق وعمل به، وبشارة طيبة للمؤمنين بحسن مصيرهم.

Tafsir Ibn Kathir

Hafiz Ibn Kathir

يقول تعالى مخاطبا عبده ورسوله محمدا - صلى الله عليه وسلم - : ( ويوم نبعث في كل أمة شهيدا عليهم من أنفسهم وجئنا بك شهيدا على هؤلاء ) يعني أمته .أي : اذكر ذلك اليوم وهوله وما منحك الله فيه من الشرف العظيم والمقام الرفيع . وهذه الآية شبيهة بالآية التي انتهى إليها عبد الله بن مسعود حين قرأ على رسول الله - صلى الله عليه وسلم - صدر سورة " النساء " فلما وصل إلى قوله تعالى : ( فكيف إذا جئنا من كل أمة بشهيد وجئنا بك على هؤلاء شهيدا ) [ النساء : 41 ] . فقال له رسول الله - صلى الله عليه وسلم - : " حسبك " .

قال ابن مسعود - رضي الله عنه - : فالتفت فإذا عيناه تذرفان .وقوله : ( ونزلنا عليك الكتاب تبيانا لكل شيء ) قال ابن مسعود : [ و ] قد بين لنا في هذا القرآن كل علم ، وكل شيء .وقال مجاهد : كل حلال وحرام .وقول ابن مسعود أعم وأشمل ; فإن القرآن اشتمل على كل علم نافع من خبر ما سبق ، وعلم ما سيأتي ، وحكم كل حلال وحرام ، وما الناس إليه محتاجون في أمر دنياهم ودينهم ، ومعاشهم ومعادهم .( وهدى ) أي : للقلوب ، ( ورحمة وبشرى للمسلمين )وقال الأوزاعي : ( ونزلنا عليك الكتاب تبيانا لكل شيء ) أي : بالسنة .ووجه اقتران قوله : ( ونزلنا عليك الكتاب ) مع قوله : ( وجئنا بك شهيدا على هؤلاء ) أن المراد - والله أعلم - : إن الذي فرض عليك تبليغ الكتاب - الذي أنزله عليك - سائلك عن ذلك يوم القيامة ، ( فلنسألن الذين أرسل إليهم ولنسألن المرسلين ) [ الأعراف : 6 ] ( فوربك لنسألنهم أجمعين عما كانوا يعملون ) [ الحجر : 92 ، 93 ] ( يوم يجمع الله الرسل فيقول ماذا أجبتم قالوا لا علم لنا إنك أنت علام الغيوب ) [ المائدة : 109 ] وقال تعالى : ( إن الذي فرض عليك القرآن لرادك إلى معاد ) [ القصص : 85 ] أي : إن الذي أوجب عليك تبليغ القرآن لرادك إليه ، ومعيدك يوم القيامة ، وسائلك عن أداء ما فرض عليك . هذا أحد الأقوال ، وهو متجه حسن .

Tafsir is provided for educational reference. Paragraph breaks are added for readability — the wording of each commentary is unchanged. For religious guidance, consult a qualified scholar.