16.Sura al-Nahl

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

إِنَّ اللّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاء ذِي الْقُرْبَى...   

16: 90.  Allah commands

-    justice,

-    the doing of good,

-    and liberality to kith and kin,

... وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاء وَالْمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ... 

and He forbids

-    all shameful deeds,

-    and injustice and rebellion:

... يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ ﴿٩٠﴾

He instructs you, that ye may receive admonition.

C2127. Justice is a comprehensive term, and may include all the virtues of cold philosophy. But religion asks for something warmer and more human, the doing of good deeds even where perhaps they are not strictly demanded by justice, such as returning good for ill, or obliging those who in worldly language "have no claim" on you; and of course a fortiori the fulfilling of the claims of those whose claims arc recognised in social life.

Similarly the opposites are to be avoided; everything that is recognised as shameful, and everything that is really unjust, and any inward rebellion against Allah's Law or our own conscience in its most sensitive form.

Other versions:

16: 90 [an-Nahl, Mecca 70]

Asad Behold, God enjoins justice, and the doing of good, and generosity towards [one’s] fellow-man; and He forbids all that is shameful and all that runs counter to reason, as well as envy; [and ] He exhorts you [repeatedly] so that you might bear [all this] in mind.

Yusuf Ali Allah commands justice the doing of good and liberality to kith and kin and He forbids all shameful deeds and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you that ye may receive admonition.

Pickthall Lo! Allah enjoin justice and kindness, and giving to kinsfolk, and forbid lewdness and abomination and wickedness. He exhort you in order that ye may take heed.

Yuksel God orders justice and goodness, and that you shall help your relatives, and He forbids from evil, vice, and transgression. He warns you that you may remember.

Transliteration Innalla_ha ya'muru bil 'adli wal ihsa_ni wa ita_'i zil qurba_ wa yanha_ 'anil fahsya_'i wal munkari wal bagyi ya'izukum la'allakum tazakkaru_n(a).

[Qurba – near or close ones, relatives, kith and kinsfolk, or even fellow human being ]

[Asad note 109: The term al-munkar rendered by me “that which is wrong”]has here its original meaning of “that which the mind [or the moral sense] rejects”, respectively “ought to reject”. Zamakhshari is more specific, and explains this term as signifying in the above context “that which [men’s] intellects disown” or “declare to be untrue”……..all that runs counter to reason and good sense …….]

[[ Ali’s note - 2127 Justice is a comprehensive term, and may include all the virtues of cold philosophy. But religion asks for something warmer and more human, the doing of good deeds even where perhaps they are not strictly demanded by justice, such as returning good for ill, or obliging those who in worldly language "have no claim" on you; and of course a fortiori the fulfilling of the claims of those whose claims are recognised in social life. Similarly the opposites are to be avoided; everything that is recognised as shameful, and everything that is really unjust, and any inward rebellion against Allah's Law or our own conscience in its most sensitive form. (16.90)