وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُفَصِّلُ ٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ 174
Translations
And thus do We [explain in] detail the verses, and perhaps they will return.
Transliteration
Wa-kathalika nufassilu al-ayati wa-la'allahum yarji'un
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah concludes Allah's detailed explanation of the covenant He took from the children of Adam in the previous verses, stating that Allah clarifies and distinguishes His signs in this manner so that people might return to Him in repentance and obedience. According to Ibn Kathir and Al-Qurtubi, the repetition and detailed explanation of divine signs serves as a means to guide humanity back to the straight path, emphasizing that clarity of revelation is meant to facilitate human responsiveness to divine guidance.
Revelation Context
This ayah appears within Surah Al-A'raf's discussion of the primordial covenant (Ayat al-Dhiriyyah) in which Allah extracted a commitment from all descendants of Adam to worship Him alone. The context addresses humanity's tendency to forget or turn away from divine guidance, making this ayah's emphasis on detailed explanation of signs particularly relevant to the surah's broader theme of warning against heedlessness.
Related Hadiths
The concept relates to the hadith in Sahih Muslim where the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that every child is born upon the fitrah (natural disposition toward monotheism), connecting to the idea that divine signs are clarifications meant to restore people to their natural inclination toward God.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches that Allah's repeated and detailed explanations of His signs demonstrate His mercy and desire for human guidance; believers should recognize that clarity in religious understanding is a divine gift intended to draw us closer to repentance and righteous living.