Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Surah An-Nahl
Surah 16 · An-Nahl · verse 94 of 128

Quran 16:94 · An-Nahl

وَلَا تَتَّخِذُوٓاْ أَيۡمَٰنَكُمۡ دَخَلَۢا بَيۡنَكُمۡ فَتَزِلَّ قَدَمُۢ بَعۡدَ ثُبُوتِهَا وَتَذُوقُواْ ٱلسُّوٓءَ بِمَا صَدَدتُّمۡ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَلَكُمۡ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٞ

And do not take your oaths as [means of] deceit between you, lest a foot slip after it was [once] firm, and you would taste evil [in this world] for what [people] you diverted from the way of Allah, and you would have [in the Hereafter] a great punishment

Translation: Sahih International
Maulana’s commentary · Tazkirul Quran

Executing an agreement on oath is the final shape of a firm agreement. From this point of view, all agreements are covered by this verse. If Muslims enter into transactions involving agreements with others and thereafter, without any real reason and only for the sake of self-interest, break them, this will result in destroying the moral credibility of Muslims in general. This will create an atmosphere such as will discourage others from adopting the way of God. Ibn Kathir writes that when a rejecter of Islam sees that a Muslim has entered into an agreement, but goes against it, he will have no faith in the religion of Islam and will abstain from embracing the religion of God. The act of breaking an agreement against the principles of Islamic law inevitably occurs when one partner to it sees that he will receive certain worldly benefits by doing so. But a believer’s view is Hereafter-oriented. Whenever it is the self which makes a move to break the agreement, the person concerned curbs his self by saying that there may be some worldly benefit in breaking it, but he will gain no advantage thereby in the Hereafter. And the advantage of the Hereafter is definitely greater than any worldly benefit.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Tazkirul Quran

In the lectures

Maulana does not cite this verse in the lectures indexed so far. The verses of this surah Maulana does cite →