The Holy Quran 16:35 — Surah An-Nahl

Arabic text

وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا۟ لَوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مَا عَبَدْنَا مِن دُونِهِۦ مِن شَىْءٍ نَّحْنُ وَلَآ ءَابَآؤُنَا وَلَا حَرَّمْنَا مِن دُونِهِۦ مِن شَىْءٍ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ فَعَلَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ فَهَلْ عَلَى ٱلرُّسُلِ إِلَّا ٱلْبَلَـٰغُ ٱلْمُبِينُ

Translation

Those who commit Shirk say, "If Allaah willed, then neither we nor our forefathers would have worshipped anything besides Him, and we would never have forbidden anything (any animal) without Him (without His command. They failed to realise that Allaah does not force people to do anything, but gives them a choice). Those before them behaved in the same manner (They also said the same things and rejected their Rusul). (However, it is not the duty of the Rusul to force people to accept Imaan because) The responsibility of the Rusul is only clear propagation (after which people have the choice to either accept Imaan or not to accept).

Tafsir (excerpt) — Tafsir Usmani

Refutation of the idolaters’ arguments: from here begins the refutation of the false excuses and flimsy, absurd arguments which the mushriks (idolaters) used to put forward to prove that their shirk (associating partners with Allah) and the practices of shirk were permissible and even commendable.

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.