إِن يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ وَيَأْتِ بِخَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ · وَمَا ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ بِعَزِيزٍ · وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ وَإِن تَدْعُ مُثْقَلَةٌ إِلَىٰ حِمْلِهَا لَا يُحْمَلْ مِنْهُ شَىْءٌ وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَىٰ
"If He wills, He takes you away and brings a new creation; and that is not hard for God. No bearer of burdens bears the burden of another. If one weighed down calls another to carry her load, nothing of it will be carried — even were the one called a near kinsman."
The root wizr and the principle "no one bears another's burden" were analysed in al-Najm at 53/38 and occurred again in al-Zumar at 39/7. I do not repeat it here.
| Stage | Expression |
|---|---|
| The principle | Lā taziru wāziratun wizra ukhrā |
| Addition 1 | One weighed down may ask for help — wa in tadʿu muthqalatun ilā ḥimlihā |
| Addition 2 | Still nothing is carried — lā yuḥmal minhu shayʾ |
| Addition 3 | Even if it be a near kinsman — wa law kāna dhā qurbā |
That is: the principle is not set down once and passed over; it is tested at its most demanding point.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the third addition: the record dhā qurbā (a near kinsman) names the most natural place in this world for a burden to be shared. By saying that even there it is not shared, the verse builds the principle at its most durable point.
مُثْقَلَة — root ث-ق-ل: weight. A passive participle: "made heavy, laden". That is, the person is mentioned not as though he had not chosen the burden himself — he is mentioned as laden.
إِنَّمَا تُنذِرُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُم بِٱلْغَيْبِ — "you can warn only those who fear their Lord though they do not see Him."
The effect of the warning is tied to a condition, and the condition lies on the side of the one addressed. The same limit was treated in al-Zumar at 39/19 and 39/41 (a-fa-anta tunqidhu man fi'n-nār, wa mā anta ʿalayhim bi-wakīl); in al-Aḥqāf at 46/35 it was set down with the word balāgh. I rely on that treatment.