Tafsir of Surah An-Nahl - Verse 110

The One who is forced to renounce Islam will be forgiven if He does Righteous Deeds afterwards

This refers to another group of people who were oppressed in Makkah and whose position with their own people was weak, so they went along with them when they were tried by them. Then they managed to escape by emigrating, leaving their homeland, families and wealth behind, seeking the pleasure and forgiveness of Allah. They joined the believers and fought with them against the disbelievers, bearing hardship with patience. Allah tells them that after this, meaning after their giving in when put to the test, He will forgive them and show mercy to them when they are resurrected.

يَوْمَ تَأْتِى كُلُّ نَفْسٍ تُجَـدِلُ

((Remember) the Day when every person will come pleading) meaning making a case in his own defence.

عَن نَّفْسِهَا

(for himself.) means, no one else will plead on his behalf; not his father, not his son, nor his brother, nor his wife.

وَتُوَفَّى كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّا عَمِلَتْ

(and every one will be paid in full for what he did,) meaning whatever he did, good or evil.

وَهُمْ لاَ يُظْلَمُونَ

(and they will not be dealt with unjustly.) meaning there will be no decrease in the reward for good, and no increase in the punishment for evil. They will not be dealt with unjustly in the slightest way.

Sequence of Verses

Warnings of punishment against disbelief (kufr) - whether original or apostacy (irtidad) - appeared in previous verses. After that, in the first (106) of the initial three verses cited above, it has been pointed clearly that 'Iman or the declaration of faith is a wealth that could work wonders for a kafir (disbeliever) or murtadd (apostate) who - if he were to come up with an honest and true 'Iman - all his past sins would stand forgiven.

In the second verse (107), the last day of Qiyamah was mentioned for the reason that all this phenomena of reward and punishment has to occur after that. In the third verse (108), it was said that the real punishment of disbelief and sin will, though come after the Qiyamah, yet there are some sins the punishment of which is faced in a certain degree within the present world.

Whenever untruth dominates the current atmosphere, one who accepts the Truth faces severely trying circumstances: his surroundings force him to revert to the customary religion. Under these circumstances, if he remains steady in his adherence to the Truth and leaves everything (even his property and his native place), then he is a migrator (muhajir). One who strives and struggles (mujahid) for the cause of God, makes himself deserving of a huge reward. What keeps a man steady on the path of Truth under the trying circumstances of the world is his remembrance of the Hereafter. Every man is soon going to face a Day so terrible that he will forget even his friends and relatives. At that time no one will be able to say anything on behalf of anybody, and no one will come forward in commendation of anybody. If a man fully realizes the meaning of that coming Day, he will be in a condition to bear any type of loss, but he will not abandon the Truth.