Surah Nahl ayat 118 Tafsir Quran 16:118

﴿وَعَلَى الَّذِينَ هَادُوا حَرَّمْنَا مَا قَصَصْنَا عَلَيْكَ مِن قَبْلُ ۖ وَمَا ظَلَمْنَاهُمْ وَلَٰكِن كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ﴾
[ النحل: 118]

16:118 And to those who are Jews We have prohibited that which We related to you before. And We did not wrong them [thereby], but they were wronging themselves.

And to those of Jewry that is the Jews We forbade that which We have related to you already in the verse And to those of Jewry We forbade every beast with hoof … to the end Q. 6146; and We did not wrong them by forbidding them that but they used to wrong themselves by committing acts of disobedience which necessarily bring about such consequences.

As to the Jews, We forbade them -for their iniquities- the things We have already mentioned to you O Muhammad earlier* We never wronged them but it was they who always wronged themselves

Some Good Things were Forbidden for the Jews After mentioning that He has forbidden us to eat dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and any animal which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allah, and after making allowances for cases of necessity - which is part of making things easy for this Ummah, because Allah desires ease for us, not hardship - Allah then mentions what He forbade for the Jews in their laws before they were abrogated, and the restrictions, limitations and difficulties involved therein.
He tells us: وَعَلَى الَّذِينَ هَادُواْ حَرَّمْنَا مَا قَصَصْنَا عَلَيْكَ مِن قَبْلُ ( And for those who are Jews, We have forbidden such things as We have mentioned to you before. ) meaning in Surat Al-An`am, where Allah says: وَعَلَى الَّذِينَ هَادُواْ حَرَّمْنَا كُلَّ ذِى ظُفُرٍ وَمِنَ الْبَقَرِ وَالْغَنَمِ حَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ شُحُومَهُمَآ إِلاَّ مَا حَمَلَتْ ظُهُورُهُمَآ ( And unto those who are Jews, We forbade every (animal ) with undivided hoof, and We forbade them the fat of the ox and the sheep except what adheres to their backs) Until, لَصَـدِقُونَ ( We are indeed truthful ) 6:146 Hence Allah says here: وَمَا ظَلَمْنَـهُمْ ( And We did not wrong them, ) meaning, in the restrictions that We imposed upon them. وَلَـكِن كَانُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ ( but they wronged themselves.
) meaning, they deserved that.
This is like the Ayah: فَبِظُلْمٍ مِّنَ الَّذِينَ هَادُواْ حَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ طَيِّبَـتٍ أُحِلَّتْ لَهُمْ وَبِصَدِّهِمْ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَثِيراً ( Because of the wrong committed of those who were Jews, We prohibited certain good foods which had been lawful for them - and (also ) for their hindering many from Allah's way.) ( 4:160 ) Then Allah tells us, honoring and remin- ding believers who have sinned of His blessings, that who- ever among them repents, He will accept his repentance, as He says: ثُمَّ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لِلَّذِينَ عَمِلُواْ السُّوءَ بِجَهَـلَةٍ ( Then, your Lord for those who did evil out of ignorance ) Some of the Salaf said that this means that everyone who disobeys Allah is ignorant. ثُمَّ تَابُواْ مِن بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ وَأَصْلَحُواْ ( and afterward repent and do righteous deeds ) meaning, they give up the sins they used to commit and turn to doing acts of obedience to Allah. إِنَّ رَبَّكَ مِن بَعْدِهَا ( verily, after that, your Lord is... ) means, after that mistake لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ( ...Pardoning, Most Merciful. )

(16:118) To the Jews We had especially forbidden the things *117 We have already related to you, *118 and it was not We who imposed this hardship on them, but they imposed the hardship themselves.

And to those who are Jews We meaning

*117) In this paragraph ( vv.
118-124 ), answers to the objections raised by the disbelievers of Makkah concerning the Commandments contained in vv.
114-117 have been given.
Their first objection was: " Besides the above-mentioned unlawful things, there arc other unlawful things in the Jewish Law which have been made lawful by you.
If that law was from Allah and yours is also from Allah why do they then contradict each other? " Their second objection was: " You have abrogated the sanctity of the Sabbath of the Israelites.
Have you done this of your own accord or by Allah's Command? In the latter case then will be an obvious contradiction in the two laws.
Or has Allah Himself given two contradictory Commandments? "
*118) This refers to: " And We prohibited all animals with claws to those people who had adopted Judaism.... " ( VI: 146 ).
In this verse ( 117 ) Allah has stated that certain things were made unlawful because of the disobedience of the Jews.

Here a question arises: Which of the two Surahs, Al-An`am or An-Nahl, was first revealed? This is because in verse 118, a reference has been made to verse 146 of Al-An`am and in verse 119 of Al-An`am, " And why should you not eat that thing over which Allah's name has been mentioned, when He has already given you a detail of those things that have been declared to be unlawful for you except m case of extremity....? ", a reference has been made to verse 115 of AnNahl.
This is because these are the only two Makki Surahs in which details of unlawful things have been given.
As regards the question, we are of the opinion that An-NahI was revealed earlier than AI-An`am, for verse 119 of the latter contains a reference to verse 115 of the former.
It appears that after the revelation of Surah AI-An`am, the disbelievers raised objections in regard to these verses of An-Nahl.
So they were referred to verse 146 of AI-An`am in which a few things were made unlawful, especially for the Jews.
As this answer concerned An-Nahl, so verse 118, though it was revealed after the revelation of AI-An`am, was inserted as a parenthetical clause in An-Nahl.

 

Some Good Things were Forbidden for the Jews After mentioning that He has forbidden us to eat dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and any animal which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allah, and after making allowances for cases of necessity - which is part of making things easy for this Ummah, because Allah desires ease for us, not hardship - Allah then mentions what He forbade for the Jews in their laws before they were abrogated, and the restrictions, limitations and difficulties involved therein.
He tells us: وَعَلَى الَّذِينَ هَادُواْ حَرَّمْنَا مَا قَصَصْنَا عَلَيْكَ مِن قَبْلُ ( And for those who are Jews, We have forbidden such things as We have mentioned to you before. ) meaning in Surat Al-An`am, where Allah says: وَعَلَى الَّذِينَ هَادُواْ حَرَّمْنَا كُلَّ ذِى ظُفُرٍ وَمِنَ الْبَقَرِ وَالْغَنَمِ حَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ شُحُومَهُمَآ إِلاَّ مَا حَمَلَتْ ظُهُورُهُمَآ ( And unto those who are Jews, We forbade every (animal ) with undivided hoof, and We forbade them the fat of the ox and the sheep except what adheres to their backs) Until, لَصَـدِقُونَ ( We are indeed truthful ) 6:146 Hence Allah says here: وَمَا ظَلَمْنَـهُمْ ( And We did not wrong them, ) meaning, in the restrictions that We imposed upon them. وَلَـكِن كَانُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ ( but they wronged themselves.
) meaning, they deserved that.
This is like the Ayah: فَبِظُلْمٍ مِّنَ الَّذِينَ هَادُواْ حَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ طَيِّبَـتٍ أُحِلَّتْ لَهُمْ وَبِصَدِّهِمْ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَثِيراً ( Because of the wrong committed of those who were Jews, We prohibited certain good foods which had been lawful for them - and (also ) for their hindering many from Allah's way.) ( 4:160 ) Then Allah tells us, honoring and remin- ding believers who have sinned of His blessings, that who- ever among them repents, He will accept his repentance, as He says: ثُمَّ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لِلَّذِينَ عَمِلُواْ السُّوءَ بِجَهَـلَةٍ ( Then, your Lord for those who did evil out of ignorance ) Some of the Salaf said that this means that everyone who disobeys Allah is ignorant. ثُمَّ تَابُواْ مِن بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ وَأَصْلَحُواْ ( and afterward repent and do righteous deeds ) meaning, they give up the sins they used to commit and turn to doing acts of obedience to Allah. إِنَّ رَبَّكَ مِن بَعْدِهَا ( verily, after that, your Lord is... ) means, after that mistake لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ( ...Pardoning, Most Merciful. )

( And unto those who are Jews ) those who stirred away from Islam, i.e. the Jews ( We have forbidden that which We have already ) before this surah, and specifically in surah al-An’am ( related unto thee ) that which We have named to you. ( And We wronged them not ) because of what We forbade them of meats and fats, ( but they were wont to wrong themselves ) they were wont to harm, i.e. He forbade them those things because of their sins.

And unto those who are Jews, We have forbidden such things as We have mentioned to you (O Muhammad SAW) before [in Surat-Al-An'am, (The Cattle), see Verse 6:146]. And We wronged them not, but they used to wrong themselves.

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