Surah An-Nahl — Verse 25

Word Meanings:

• Awzārahum (أوزارهم): Their sins and burdens of wrongdoing.
• Kāmilah (كاملة): Complete, without any reduction or forgiveness.
• Yudillūnahum (يُضلونهم): Those whom they lead astray from the path of truth and righteousness.
• Bighayri ʿilm (بغير علم): Without knowledge or valid proof—meaning they mislead others out of ignorance and falsehood, not based on any sound evidence.
• Sā'a mā yazirūn (ساء ما يزرون): How evil and terrible is the burden they carry upon their backs!

Explanation of the Verse:

This verse reveals the ultimate consequence for those who spread falsehood and call others to misguidance. When such people utter their deceptive words and fabricate lies against Allah, they do so not merely for the sake of speaking—but so that on the Day of Resurrection, they will carry the full weight of their own sins, unrelieved and unatoned for. No worldly trial, no good deed they may have performed, will lighten this load in the slightest.

But that is not all. They will also carry an additional burden: the sins of those whom they misled and turned away from the path of Islam. This does not mean the followers' sins are transferred entirely—rather, the leaders share in the responsibility because they were the cause of that misguidance. Each misled person still bears their own sin, but the one who led them astray carries an equal share of the blame, without diminishing anything from the follower's own accountability.

The verse closes with a powerful exclamation: "Surely evil is what they bear!" It is a declaration of utter disgrace—a warning that the heaviest load a person can carry into the Hereafter is not physical weight, but the weight of sins they chose to accumulate, multiplied by the sins of those they dragged down with them.

A Call to Reflection:

Dear reader, pause and reflect on the magnitude of this warning. The Qur'an teaches us that every soul is responsible for its own deeds, yet those who invite others to evil share in the consequences of every wrong action committed because of their influence. How beautiful, then, is the opposite path—the path of those who call to goodness, for they earn the reward of every good deed performed by those who follow them, without diminishing the follower's own reward.

This verse is a divine mercy in disguise: it reminds us of the immense value of truth and the grave responsibility of influence. Every word we speak, every action we model, every belief we share—it all carries weight. Let us choose to be carriers of light, not bearers of burdens. Let us be among those who, on the Day of Judgment, will find their scales heavy with the good they did and the good they inspired in others. For indeed, the Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward like the rewards of those who follow him, without that diminishing anything from their rewards." (Muslim)

May Allah protect us from being sources of misguidance, and may He make us beacons of truth for all humanity.