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92
وَلا تَكونوا كَالَّتي نَقَضَت غَزلَها مِن بَعدِ قُوَّةٍ أَنكاثًا تَتَّخِذونَ أَيمانَكُم دَخَلًا بَينَكُم أَن تَكونَ أُمَّةٌ هِيَ أَربىٰ مِن أُمَّةٍ ۚ إِنَّما يَبلوكُمُ اللَّهُ بِهِ ۚ وَلَيُبَيِّنَنَّ لَكُم يَومَ القِيامَةِ ما كُنتُم فيهِ تَختَلِفونَ

Yusuf Ali

And be not like a woman who breaks into untwisted strands the yarn which she has spun, after it has become strong.1 Nor2 take your oaths to practise deception between yourselves, lest one party should be more numerous than another:3 for God will test you by this; and on the Day of Judgment He will certainly make clear to you (the truth of) that wherein ye disagree.4
  • The Covenant which binds us in the spiritual world makes us strong, like strands of fluffy cotton spun into a strong thread. It also gives us a sense of security against much evil in this world. It costs a woman much labour and skill to spin good strong yarn. She would be foolish indeed, after she has spun such yarn, to untwist its constituent strands and break them into flimsy pieces.
  • Nor. I construe tattakhidhuna with la takunu in the previous clause.
  • Do not make your religion merely a game of making your own party numerically strong by alliance cemented by oaths, which you readily break when a more numerous party offers you its alliance. Quraish were addicted to this vice, and in international politics at the present day, this seems to be almost a standard of national self-respect and international skill. Islam teaches nobler ethics for individuals and nations. A Covenant should be looked upon as a solemn thing, not to be entered into except with the sincerest intention of carrying it out; and it is binding even if large numbers are ranged against it.
  • Disagreements need not necessarily cause conflict where the parties are sincere and honest and do not wish to take advantage of one another. In such cases they do not go by numbers, groupings, and alliances, but by just conduct as in the sight of God. Honest differences will be removed when all things are made clear in the Hereafter.