16. An-Nahl

And when We exchange a verse in place of a different verse by abrogating it and revealing another for the welfare of God’s servants — and God knows best what He reveals — they say that is the disbelievers say to the Prophet s ‘You are just a fabricator’ a liar making it up yourself. Nay most of them do not know the true nature of the Qur’ān and the benefit to God’s servants of abrogation.

Say to them ‘The Holy Spirit Gabriel has revealed it from your Lord with truth bi’l-haqq this is semantically connected to nazzala ‘he Gabriel has revealed it’ to confirm the faith of those who believe by their believing in it when it is revealed and as guidance and good tidings for those who have submitted to God’.

Indeed those who do not believe in God’s signs — God shall not guide them and there is a painful chastisement for them.

Only those invent falsehood who do not believe in God’s signs the Qur’an by saying that these are the words of a human and it is they who are the liars the emphasis is effected by way of repetition; wa-inna ‘and indeed’ and other combinations of inna are used in refutation of their saying ‘You are just a fabricator’ above Q. 16101.

Whoever disbelieves in God after having affirmed his faith — except for him who is compelled to pronounce a statement of unbelief and so pronounces it while his heart is at rest in faith man ‘whoever’ is either a subject or a conditional and so the predicate of this subject or the response to this conditional is an implied lahum wa‘īdun shadīd ‘there is for them a severe threat of chastisement’; this is indicated by the statement that follows — but he who opens up his breast to unbelief that is he who opens it up and expands it with unbelief meaning that his soul is content with it upon such shall be wrath from God and there is a great chastisement for them.

That threat of chastisement for them is because they have preferred the life of this world they have chosen it in preference to the Hereafter and because God does not guide the disbelieving folk.

They are the ones on whose hearts God has set a seal and on their hearing and their sight as well and it is they who are heedless of what punishment is being prepared for them.

Without a doubt — verily — in the Hereafter they are the ones who will be the losers because their journey’s end shall be the Fire in which they shall be perpetually.

Then indeed your Lord — as for those who emigrated to Medina after they were persecuted after they were tortured and compelled to pronounce words of unbelief a variant reading for futinū ‘they were persecuted’ has fatanū in other words ‘after they disbelieved’ or ‘after they turned people away from belief’ and then struggled and were patient in obedience — indeed your Lord after that that is after such a trial is Forgiving of them Merciful to them the predicate of the first inna ‘indeed’ is indicated by the predicate of the second one.