Those who break the covenant of The God after its firm binding, and cut what The God has commanded to be joined, and cause corruption (fasad) in the earth: those are the losers.
This verse continues directly from the end of the previous verse. In verse 26, the speech was about the fasiqin: those who, before the parable and the language of guidance, leave the healthy frame of receiving truth. Verse 27 now shows that this departure is not only a mental or inward disorder. It appears at the level of behavior, relationship, and social structure. Fisq here moves from the stage of receiving meaning to the stage of action and effect in the earth.
The verse places three main movements together: they break, they cut, and they corrupt. These three words are not a simple ethical list; they show a path of collapse. First, a covenant that had been bound and made firm is undone. Then the bonds that should remain connected are cut. As a result, corruption appears in the earth. Corruption at the end of the verse is therefore the natural consequence of breaking and severing.
The phrase “they break the covenant of the One God after its firm binding” shows that the issue is not initial ignorance. Mithaq speaks of firmness and establishment: a covenant that has reached the stage of being made firm. Breaking such a covenant is not mere forgetfulness or simple weakness. It is the opening and undoing of something that had already been bound, recognized, and established. In this sense, breaking the covenant is a conscious regression from the stage of acceptance and recognition.
Then the verse says: “and they cut what the One God has commanded to be joined.” This is one of the most important Qur’anic phrases for understanding the system of connection. The verse does not say that they merely cut one relationship. It says they cut what God has commanded to be joined. This means there is a structure of bonds that must be preserved: the human bond with the Lord, the bond with truth, the bond between human beings, kinship, justice, trust, covenant-keeping, and the moral and epistemic bonds that hold healthy life together.
At this point, the verse can become one of the foundations for understanding Salat as a system of connection. If Salat is understood only as a ritual act separated from life, a large part of the Qur’anic field of meaning is lost. In the wider horizon of the Qur’an, Salat preserves connection: keeping alive the relation with God, truth, creation, and responsibility. Opposite that, verse 27 shows those who cut connection and tear apart the connected network of life.
After breaking and cutting comes the natural result: “and they cause corruption in the earth.” Corruption here is not merely an individual bad act. Corruption means that a system leaves the state of salah, usefulness, soundness, and capacity for life. Just as fruit or meat, when corrupted, leaves its natural and usable state, society and the human being also leave their healthy state when the bonds of truth, justice, trust, and mercy are cut. Corruption is the systemic result of rupture.
The ending, “those are the losers,” gathers the whole movement. Loss is not only financial loss or losing an outward benefit. Loss means that the human being puts their existential capital into a wrong transaction and not only gains no profit, but loses the original capital as well. In this verse, the human being’s capital is the capacity to connect with truth, repair, covenant, and healthy life. When these connections are severed, the human being loses the capacity for growth and rescue.
Therefore verse 27 is the practical anatomy of the fasiqin. In verse 26, the fasiq was the one who, at the level of receiving meaning, leaves the frame of truth. In verse 27, that same departure is seen as breaking covenant, cutting connection, and causing corruption in the earth. This shows that a distortion in knowledge, if not repaired, becomes the destruction of relationship and social corruption.