Surat An-Nahl Verse No. 35: Reading and listening
Translation of the verse 35 from Surah An-Nahl : Number of verses 128 - - page 271 - Part 14.
﴾وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَشۡرَكُواْ لَوۡ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مَا عَبَدۡنَا مِن دُونِهِۦ مِن شَيۡءٖ نَّحۡنُ وَلَآ ءَابَآؤُنَا وَلَا حَرَّمۡنَا مِن دُونِهِۦ مِن شَيۡءٖۚ كَذَٰلِكَ فَعَلَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِهِمۡۚ فَهَلۡ عَلَى ٱلرُّسُلِ إِلَّا ٱلۡبَلَٰغُ ٱلۡمُبِينُ ﴿
[ النحل: 35]
And those who join others in worship with Allah say: "If Allah had so willed, neither we nor our fathers would have worshipped aught but Him, nor would we have forbidden anything without (Command from) Him." So did those before them. Then! Are the Messengers charged with anything but to convey clearly the Message?
English - Sahih International
And those who associate others with Allah say, "If Allah had willed, we would not have worshipped anything other than Him, neither we nor our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything through other than Him." Thus did those do before them. So is there upon the messengers except [the duty of] clear notification?
Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi
(16:35) The mushriks say, "Had Allah willed, neither we nor our forefathers would have worshipped any other than Allah nor made anything unlawful without His will . " *30 Such excuses were put forward also by those who went before them. *31 Have the Messengers any more responsibility than to convey the Message clearly?
Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi
*30) In order to understand the significance of this argument the reader should keep in view vv. 148-150 and E.N.'s 124-126 of Chapter VI, for this has been cited and answered there.
*31) That is, "Your argument" is not a new one but the same old one which had always been offered by erroneous people who went before you. Today you arc, like them, excusing yourselves for your deviation and evil conduct, saying that it is the will of God. You know that this is a lame excuse that has been invented to delude yourselves, and to escape from admonition."
This answer also contains a subtle retort to the objection of the disbelievers that the Qur'an consisted merely of old stories of the ancients (v. 24). They meant to imply that the Prophet had nothing new to offer. So he was repeating the same old stories that had been repeated over and over again since the time of Prophet Noah. The retort is this: "If the Holy Prophet was not presenting anything new but was reciting the old stories of the ancients, you yourselves are not putting forward any new excuse in defence of your evil deeds, but the same old excuse that was put forward by the people who went before you. "