N Q Ḍ basically means to open, undo, unravel, or bring down something that had previously been tied, twisted, strengthened, or built. The central image is a strand that was carefully twisted: its scattered fibers were brought together, made strong, and turned into a firm bond. When that strand is opened again and returned to scatteredness, that act is naqḍ.

Naqḍ is therefore not simple breaking. Breaking may happen through an external blow, sudden event, or physical pressure. But in the main Qur'anic uses, naqḍ points to undoing something that had already been consciously tied and made firm. A covenant had been accepted, a mīthāq had been established, an oath had been confirmed, or a bond should have been preserved; then that same bond was unraveled.

In the language of the Qur'an, this root appears especially in the field of covenant, mīthāq, oath, loyalty, and divine and social bonds. The Qur'an does not treat naqḍ as merely a verbal or contractual mistake. It treats it as the collapse of an ethical structure.

Qur'anic Uses

The root N Q Ḍ appears nine times in the Qur'an. Most of its uses concern covenant and mīthāq.

In Al-Baqarah 2:27: الَّذِينَ يَنْقُضُونَ عَهْدَ اللَّهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مِيثَاقِهِ (alladhīna yanquḍūna ʿahda Allāhi min baʿdi mīthāqih), those who break the covenant of The God after its firm binding.

In An-Nisa 4:155 and Al-Ma'idah 5:13: فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِمْ مِيثَاقَهُمْ (fa-bimā naqḍihim mīthāqahum), because of their breaking of their mīthāq.

In Al-Anfal 8:56: ثُمَّ يَنْقُضُونَ عَهْدَهُمْ فِي كُلِّ مَرَّةٍ (thumma yanquḍūna ʿahdahum fī kulli marrah), then they break their covenant every time.

In Ar-Ra'd 13:20: الَّذِينَ يُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِ اللَّهِ وَلَا يَنْقُضُونَ الْمِيثَاقَ (alladhīna yūfūna bi-ʿahdi Allāhi wa-lā yanquḍūna al-mīthāq), those who fulfill the covenant of The God and do not break the mīthāq.

In Ar-Ra'd 13:25: وَالَّذِينَ يَنْقُضُونَ عَهْدَ اللَّهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مِيثَاقِهِ (wa-alladhīna yanquḍūna ʿahda Allāhi min baʿdi mīthāqih).

In An-Nahl 16:91: وَلَا تَنْقُضُوا الْأَيْمَانَ بَعْدَ تَوْكِيدِهَا (wa-lā tanquḍū al-aymāna baʿda tawqīdihā), do not break oaths after confirming them.

In An-Nahl 16:92: وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّتِي نَقَضَتْ غَزْلَهَا مِنْ بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ أَنْكَاثًا (wa-lā takūnū ka-allatī naqaḍat ghazlahā min baʿdi quwwatin ankāthā), do not be like the woman who unraveled her spun thread after strength, into loosened strands.

In Ash-Sharh 94:3: الَّذِي أَنْقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ (alladhī anqaḍa ẓahrak), that which weighed down and strained your back.

Naqḍ Always Comes After Firmness

One important feature of this root in the Qur'an is its connection with expressions that indicate prior establishment, confirmation, and strength.

In Al-Baqarah 2:27 and Ar-Ra'd 13:25, breaking comes after mīthāq: مِنْ بَعْدِ مِيثَاقِهِ (min baʿdi mīthāqih). The covenant was not vague or raw. It had been established, and the human being had become responsible before it.

In An-Nahl 16:91, breaking comes after confirmation: بَعْدَ تَوْكِيدِهَا (baʿda tawqīdihā). Oaths had been made firm, then unraveled. In An-Nahl 16:92, breaking comes after strength: مِنْ بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ (min baʿdi quwwah). The thread had reached strength and coherence before being undone.

This pattern shows that naqḍ in the Qur'an is the ruining of something already formed and strengthened. It therefore carries heavy responsibility: a person reopens what had been known, accepted, and made firm.

Central Image: Unraveling a Thread After Strength

The key to this root is An-Nahl 16:92. The Qur'an does not say, do not be like someone who tore a thread. It says, do not be like a woman who unraveled her own spun thread after it had become strong.

The thread was not scattered before naqḍ. It had been made, twisted, and strengthened. Naqḍ occurs after firmness. Its result is أَنْكَاثًا (ankāthā): fibers and strands that, after being twisted together, have been opened and scattered again.

This image fits the Qur'anic meaning of breaking covenant. Covenants, mīthāq, and oaths are ethical strands. They connect the human being to The God, truth, responsibility, and other people. When these strands are broken, more than a sentence or promise is broken. An ethical order is unraveled.

Breaking the Covenant of The God

In 2:27 and 13:25, the Qur'an speaks about those who break the covenant of The God after its mīthāq. The phrase مِنْ بَعْدِ مِيثَاقِهِ (min baʿdi mīthāqih) matters. The covenant was not unconscious, raw, or unclear. It had been strengthened, clarified, and made responsible.

In these same verses, breaking the covenant of The God is joined with cutting what The God commanded to be joined. This shows that the covenant of The God is not merely a mental belief. It has social, ethical, and practical effect in human life. When that covenant is broken, proper bonds are also cut: connection to truth, justice, kinship, society, and reform.

Breaking Mīthāq

In 4:155 and 5:13, breaking mīthāq is presented as one of the causes of moral collapse and hardening of hearts. Mīthāq is something a person or community has known, accepted, and entered as responsibility.

Breaking mīthāq is dangerous because it comes after awareness. One who breaks mīthāq is not in the position of simple ignorance. The person had already entered a relation of obligation. Therefore, breaking mīthāq can harden the heart, because to continue breaking it, a person must become numb toward truth, covenant, and conscience.

Hardness of heart here is not accidental. When a person repeatedly opens the bond of truth, the ability to hear truth slowly weakens. Repeated naqḍ weakens moral sensitivity.

Breaking Covenant Every Time

In 8:56, the Qur'an speaks about a group with whom covenant is made, yet they break their covenant every time. The phrase فِي كُلِّ مَرَّةٍ (fī kulli marrah) shows that naqḍ can become habit and method.

Sometimes breaking covenant is not a passing slip but a behavioral pattern. A person or group accepts the language of covenant but does not preserve its truth. Covenant becomes a temporary instrument, not moral responsibility. Such naqḍ destroys social trust, because no covenant remains firm.

Naqḍ Against Wafā'

Ar-Ra'd 13:20 shows the opposite of naqḍ: those who fulfill the covenant of The God and do not break the mīthāq. This verse shows that the opposite of naqḍ is not merely not breaking; it is wafā'.

Wafā' means carrying something to completion. A person does not merely accept a covenant at the moment of speech, but preserves it across time, pressure, benefit, harm, and action.

In Qur'anic logic, real faith is measured through loyalty. One who preserves the covenant keeps the strand The God tied upon truth. One who breaks the mīthāq opens that strand from within.

Breaking Oaths

In 16:91, the Qur'an says not to break oaths after confirming them. The phrase بَعْدَ تَوْكِيدِهَا (baʿda tawqīdihā) strengthens the same meaning: the matter is breaking something the person had made firm.

This verse shows that human speech carries responsibility. When a person strengthens speech with oath, commitment, or confirmation, that speech is no longer a simple phrase. A link has been created between language and ethics. Breaking the oath is opening that link.

A Different Use in Ash-Sharh

In Surat Ash-Sharh, the form أَنْقَضَ (anqaḍa) appears: الَّذِي أَنْقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ (alladhī anqaḍa ẓahrak). This use is not directly about breaking covenant. It points to a burden that weighed down and strained the back, as though its pressure brought the structure of the back to groaning, pain, or the edge of breaking.

This use is not fully separate from the root's main field. Here too, we face pressure upon a structure. If in covenant-breaking the human being opens a bond from within, here a heavy burden presses upon the back and wears it down.

Difference From Nearby Roots

N Q Ḍ is not simple breaking. The focus is on opening or loosening a structure that had already been tied, twisted, or strengthened.

Roots such as K S R point more to breaking a hard or solid body. The main image there is impact and fracture, not unraveling a strand or covenant.

Roots such as H D M point more to demolishing a structure or bringing down a building. The main image there is destruction of a raised structure.

N Q Ḍ, however, focuses on undoing a bond, covenant, mīthāq, oath, or firm structure. For this reason, in the Qur'an this root appears above all with covenant and mīthāq.

Translation Suggestions for Forqan

نَقَضَ (naqaḍa): broke; unraveled; undid.

يَنْقُضُونَ عَهْدَ اللَّهِ (yanquḍūna ʿahda Allāh): they break the covenant of The God; they unravel the covenant of The God after it had become firm.

نَقْضِهِم مِّيثَاقَهُمْ (naqḍihim mīthāqahum): their breaking of their mīthāq; their unraveling of the mīthāq they had accepted.

لَا تَنْقُضُوا الْأَيْمَانَ بَعْدَ تَوْكِيدِهَا (lā tanquḍū al-aymāna baʿda tawqīdihā): do not break oaths after confirming them; do not unravel oaths that had been made firm.

أَنْكَاثًا (ankāthā): loosened strands; fibers opened apart after being twisted together.

أَنْقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ (anqaḍa ẓahrak): weighed down and strained your back; a burden that pressed upon your back.

Summary

N Q Ḍ in the Qur'an begins from a material image: opening a thread that had been firmly twisted. This image then enters the fields of ethics, covenant, mīthāq, oath, faith, social bonds, and human responsibility.

Naqḍ means opening what had been tied, unraveling what had become strong, breaking covenant after awareness, undoing mīthāq after firmness, weakening trust after commitment, cutting bonds that should have remained joined, and bringing down a structure that had the right to be preserved.

From the Qur'anic view, the danger of naqḍ is that the human being chooses to unravel after entering covenant, after knowing, and after firmness. This is not merely an outward mistake; it is a collapse from within.

In summary: N Q Ḍ means undoing and unraveling a bond that had already been tied and made firm. In Qur'anic usage, it mostly refers to breaking covenant, mīthāq, oath, and loyalty: the human being causes an ethical and divine structure built on truth, trust, and responsibility to collapse from within.

Qur'anic Root N Q Ḍ

Important Forms of This Root

Foundational Meaning