ٱلنَّحْل : ٩٢

  • وَلَا And (do) not
  • تَكُونُواْ be
  • كَٱلَّتِي like her who
  • نَقَضَتۡ untwists
  • غَزۡلَهَا her spun yarn
  • مِنۢ after
  • بَعۡدِ after
  • قُوَّةٍ strength
  • أَنكَٰثٗا (into) untwisted strands
  • تَتَّخِذُونَ you take
  • أَيۡمَٰنَكُمۡ your oaths
  • دَخَلَۢا (as) a deception
  • بَيۡنَكُمۡ between you
  • أَن because
  • تَكُونَ is
  • أُمَّةٌ a community
  • هِيَ [it]
  • أَرۡبَىٰ more numerous
  • مِنۡ than
  • أُمَّةٍۚ (another) community
  • إِنَّمَا Only
  • يَبۡلُوكُمُ Allah tests you
  • ٱللَّهُ Allah tests you
  • بِهِۦۚ by it
  • وَلَيُبَيِّنَنَّ And He will make clear
  • لَكُمۡ to you
  • يَوۡمَ (on) the Day
  • ٱلۡقِيَٰمَةِ (of) the Resurrection
  • مَا what
  • كُنتُمۡ you used (to)
  • فِيهِ in it
  • تَخۡتَلِفُونَ differ
And do not be like she who untwisted her spun thread after it was strong [by] taking your oaths as [means of] deceit between you because one community is more plentiful [in number or wealth] than another community.1 Allāh only tries you thereby. And He will surely make clear to you on the Day of Resurrection that over which you used to differ.
Footnotes
1 - i.e., do not swear falsely or break a treaty or contract merely for a worldly advantage.
And do not be like her who undoes, spoils, her yarn, that which she has spun, after having made it strong, [having] set and spun it, [breaking it up] into fibres (ankaathan is a circumstantial qualifier, [ankaath is] the plural of nikth, and means that which is undone [yunkathu]) - this was an imbecile Meccan woman who used to spin all day and then undo it - by making (tattakhidhoona is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person of [the verb] takoonoo, '[do not] be like'), in other words, [what is meant is] 'do not be like her by making', your oaths a [means of] deceit, (dakhal, is what enters [yadkhulu] into something but does not belong to it), in other words, as [a means of causing] mischief or as trickery, between you, by breaking these [oaths], so that one group may become more numerous than [another] group. They used to enter into an alliance with a given group, but if they encountered another more numerous and more powerful [group], they would renege on their alliance with the former and forge a [new] alliance with these [latter]. God only tries, tests, you thereby, in other words, by that which He enjoins, in the way of fulfilling the covenant, so that He may observe the obedient and the disobedient among you, or when [it is the case that] one group is more numerous [than another], that He may observe whether you fulfil [your obligation to them] or not; and certainly He will make clear to you on the Day of Resurrection that wherein you used to differ, during [the life of] this world, with regard to covenants and otherwise, by punishing he who reneged and rewarding he who was faithful [to his covenant].