Surah Nahl Ayat 2 in Arabic Text
English Translation
Here you can read various translations of verse 2
He sends down the angels, with the inspiration of His command, upon whom He wills of His servants, [telling them], “Warn that there is no deity except Me; so fear Me.”
He doth send down His angels with inspiration of His Command, to such of His servants as He pleaseth, (saying): “Warn (Man) that there is no god but I: so do your duty unto Me.”
He sends down this spirit (of prophecy) by His command through His angels on any of His servants whom He wills, (directing them): “Warn people that there is no deity but Me; so hold Me alone in fear.”
He sends down the angels with inspiration of His Command to whom of His slaves He pleases (saying): “Warn mankind that La ilaha illa Ana (none has the right to be worshipped but I), so fear Me (by abstaining from sins and evil deeds).
He sendeth down the angels with the Spirit of His command unto whom He will of His bondmen, (saying): Warn mankind that there is no Allah save Me, so keep your duty unto Me.
He (always) sends (i.e., He has been sending down) down the Angels with the Spirit of His Command upon whomever He decides among His bondmen, (saying), “Warn that there is no god except I; so be pious to Me.”
He sends down angels with inspiration at His command, to whichever of His servants He chooses, to give [His] warning: ‘There is no god but Me, so beware of Me.’
وہی فرشتوں کو اپنی وحی دے کر اپنے حکم سے اپنے بندوں میں سے جس پر چاہتا ہے اتارتا ہے کہ تم لوگوں کو آگاه کر دو کہ میرے سوا اور کوئی معبود نہیں، پس تم مجھ سے ڈرو
Quran 16 Verse 2 Explanation
For those looking for commentary to help with the understanding of Surah Nahl ayat 2, we’ve provided two Tafseer works below. The first is the tafseer of Abul Ala Maududi, the second is of Ibn Kathir.
Ala-Maududi
(16:2) He sends down this spirit(of prophecy) by His command through His angels[3] on any of His servants whom He wills,[4] (directing them): “Warn people that there is no deity but Me; so hold Me alone in fear.”[5]
3. This means the Spirit of Prophethood with which a Prophet is imbued in order to fulfill his mission by word and deed. The Quran has called this the Spirit in several places, for this has the same relation to the mission of a Prophet and his moral life, which the soul has to the physical human life.
4. As one of the things, which prompted the disbelievers to challenge the Prophet (peace be upon him) for scourge, was their presumption that he was not a true Prophet. Allah told them categorically that he was a true Prophet who had been imbued with the Spirit which We had sent down on him.
“Spirit of His command, upon whom He wills.” This is the answer to the objections which the chiefs of the Quraish used to raise against the Prophet (peace be upon him): Had Allah wanted to send a Messenger to them, was there no one better than Muhammad (peace be upon him), son of Abdullah, for this mission. Why did He not choose one of the big chiefs of Makkah or Taif for the purpose? Such absurd objections needed no other answer than this that is why such an answer has been given in several places of the Quran as if to say: Allah knows best how to do His work, and does not stand in need of any advice from you. He chooses for His mission anyone whom He considers fit for it.
5. This verse declares the essence of the Spirit of Prophethood, which is this: Godhead belongs to one Allah alone, so only He is worthy of fear. Therefore, there is no other anchor that might make fast and hold together human moral system than His fear. For it is the fear of His displeasure and His punishment, and the fear of the consequences of His disobedience which alone can act as a strong deterrent to restrain one from deviation. That is why mankind has been admonished: Fear Me.
Ibn-Kathir
2. He sends down the angels with the Ruh (revelation) of His command to those servants of His whom He wills (saying): “Warn mankind that none has the right to be worshipped but I, so have Taqwa of Me.”
(He sends down the angels with the Ruh) refers to the revelation. This is like the Ayat:
(And thus We have sent to you a Ruh (revelation) by Our command. You knew not what is the Book, nor what is the faith. But We have made it a light by which We guide whomever We will among Our servants.) ﴿43:52﴾
(to those servants of His whom He wills) meaning the Prophets, as Allah says:
(Allah best knows where to place His Message.) ﴿6:124﴾
(Allah chooses Messengers from angels and from men.) ﴿22:75﴾
(He sends the Ruh (revelation) by His command to whoever among His servants He wills to, that he may warn of the Day of Meeting. The Day when they will (all) come out, nothing about them will be hidden from Allah. Whose is the kingdom this Day: It is Allah’s, the One, the Irresistible!) (40:15-16)
((saying): “Warn…”) meaning that they should alert them.
(that none has the right to be worshipped but I, so have Taqwa of Me.) means, `fear My punishment, if you go against My commands and worship anything other than Me.’
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