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 ankāthan is a circumstantial qualifier ankāth 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 tattakhidhūna is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person of the verb takūnū ‘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.
