Path
Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 1–3The reality of religion is that man should apprehend the Being of God and His workmanship in the universe so intensely and realistically that the Being of the one God should become everything for him; man should fear only Him and on Him alone, should he build up his hopes.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 4–8Man’s life begins from a humble fluid.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 9Generally, of the various highways the traveller has to choose from, there is a recognized route by which he can go straight to his destination.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 10–11The clouds send down rain from the sky and, thanks to this, extremely fruitful results appear on the earth down below.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 12–13The sun, the moon and the stars all revolve continuously in the vastness of space with total precision.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 14If an iron bar is put into the sea, it will immediately sink to the bottom.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 15–16Here, two things are mentioned: maintenance of balance on the earth by raising mountains and the provision of signs to guide people on their way.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 17–19Whatever things there are in the world, none of them has the power of creating (i.e. bringing non-existent things into existence).Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 20–23As a matter of course, polytheists start worshipping their self-devised saints of previous generations, treating them as holy and close to God, though such worship is absolutely foolish.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 24–25It has been recorded in traditions that when the Prophet Muhammad declared his prophethood in Makkah, the news gradually spread and reached the other Arab tribes.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 26–27When those who have attained a high status on a false basis, see the call for Truth gaining ground, they feel that their position is at risk.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 28–29Arrogance is the worst crime.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 30–32When those who are of a haughty mentality hear any discourse about God, their minds start working in perverse ways and they are, therefore, unable to learn a lesson from it.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 33–34Initially, arguments are used to explain the discourse about God.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 35An unheeding person justifies his departure from the truth in various ways and one such way is to maintain that everything in this world happens according to the will and pleasure of God.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 36–37At some points God sent his prophets directly to mankind and at other points He arranged to convey His message indirectly through the deputies of prophets and their representatives.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 38–40The present world is so constituted that Truth and untruth are not always clearly distinguishable from each other due to the trial of man.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 41–42Most of the commentators of the Quran have held that this verse relates to the eighty companions of the Prophet who had become victims of persecution by opponents of Islam and finally migrated to Abyssinia (now called Ethiopia) leaving their native place.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 43–44‘The People of the Book’ (ahl az-zikr), i.e. those who have a knowledge of historical facts relating to past peoples and past prophets.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 45–47This verse pertains to the last stage of the Makkan period when the opponents of the Prophet Muhammad were conspiring to kill him.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 48–50Man indulges in arrogance in a world where all the things surrounding him are teaching him lessons in obedience.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 51–52God has warned man through His prophets that he should not hold to any god except the one and only God.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 53–56From time immemorial, whenever a man finds himself in such trouble that he is absolutely helpless, he starts remembering God.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 57–60Why does a man want children?Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 61One way of dealing with transgression is immediately to seize upon the transgressor and punish him severely.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 62The main reason for man’s going astray is his underestimation of God, Lord of the Universe.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 63–64When God’s messenger calls for the truth, his addressees feel that his call is clashing with their traditional religion.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 65The system of rains and vegetation has a great lesson in it.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 66–67A characteristic peculiar to milch animals is that whatever they eat is converted into dung and blood yet there emerges along with these a liquid, milk, which is the most valuable food for man.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 68–69The honey-bee is the most wonderful masterpiece of God’s creation.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 70Life as it manifests itself on the earth presents many aspects—one who was non- existent comes into being in the world; then everybody dies, but not at one time.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 71With the help of a simple analogy here, the belief that God has some partners and that these so-called partners have been given some powers has been shown to be wrong.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 72–74The human being is a creature who has countless needs and the perfect arrangement to fulfill all these needs exists in this world.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 75Here, a simple and common example has been given to clarify the incorrectness of polytheistic analogies.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 76In the foregoing verse, No. 75, it was shown that the concept of partners in relation to God was baseless.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 77Immanent in the outward visible world, there is an unseen system.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 78When a human being is born, he is already the possessor of eyes, ears, and a brain, yet he is quite helpless and totally dependent on others.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 79–80The flight of birds in the atmosphere is possible thanks to the magnificent planning of nature. (The shape of birds, most suitable for the purpose of flight, is imitated in the shape of aeroplanes).Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 81The importance of the shade of a roof or trees can be imagined when a man finds himself in a desert where there is no shade of any kind.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 82–83One who studies the universe, whether he be a common man or a scientist, always experiences a few moments when, while pondering over God’s creations, his mind is diverted towards the Creator.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 84–85The coming of prophets and prophets’ followers as preachers of the Truth to communities and nations would seem to be an ordinary event.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 86–88On Judgement Day this fact will finally be clear that nobody in this universe has any power except the One and Only God.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 89It is the way of Almighty God that He entrusts the task of delivering warnings and of giving good news to a community through an individual selected from that very community.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 90How a subject of God should live in the world has been clearly described in this verse.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 91–92The spinning of cotton involves the hard work of combining separate fibres so that articles useful to man may be woven from it.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 93There are unfathomable aspects of this world.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 94–95Executing an agreement on oath is the final shape of a firm agreement.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 96–97Supporting a messenger of God amounts to renouncing the customary religious system and becoming attached to a non-customary religion.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 98–100There are two objectives in reading the Quran—one is for the guidance of the self and the other is to present it to others to encourage them to understand the Truth.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 101–102The Quran is the Book of dawah.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 103–105In Makkah there were some non-Arab slaves.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 106–109Before God, reality is what counts and not simply outward appearances.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 110–111Whenever untruth dominates the current atmosphere, one who accepts the Truth faces severely trying circumstances: his surroundings force him to revert to the customary religion.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 112–113If a settlement of human beings is in a good condition and is well provided for, God raises one of His subjects from among them, who calls them to the Truth.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 114–115This verse relates to things which are eaten from day to day out of the eatable things created by God.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 116–117This verse is not connected with general law-making; it relates rather to the treatment of certain food items as prohibited or permitted.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 118When feelings of arrogance and prejudice add up to evil, the individual in question will not be ready to steer clear of it, though many arguments may be advanced to prove his actions wrong.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 119When feelings of arrogance and prejudice add up to evil, the individual in question will not be ready to steer clear of it, though many arguments may be advanced to prove his actions wrong.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 120–123Literally ‘Abraham was a community’.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 124For all the followers of the prophets, one day of the week has been specified for congregational prayer.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verse 125The preacher’s call to the Truth is a process which emerges out of intense feelings of sincerity, seriousness and well-wishing.Chapter 16, Bees (Al-Nahl) · verses 126–128This verse indicates the character traits to be displayed by the dayee while facing up to his opponents.