Surah 16. An-Nahl, Ayah 106

Lit., "except" - but the Arabic construction of the sentence that follows makes it necessary to render the simple particle illa in the manner adopted by me ("and this, to be sure, does not apply to...", etc.).

Lit., "one who is coerced, the while his heart is at rest in [his] faith". This relates to believers who, under torture or threat of death, ostensibly "recant" in order to save themselves. Although the Qur'an makes it clear in several places that martyrdom in the cause of faith is highly meritorious, "God does not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear" (cf. 2:233 and {286}, 6:152 , 7:42 , 23:62 , and many other Qur'anic statements to the same effect).

 This refers to ’Ammâr ibn Yâsser, an early revert to Islam, who was tortured to leave Islam. To save his life, ’Ammâr pretended to denounce Islam, but his heart was full of faith. When he told the Prophet (ﷺ) about what happened, this verse was revealed, reassuring him that his faith was intact.

The exception refers to a case like that of 'Ammar, whose father Yasir and mother Sumayya, were subjected to unspeakable tortures for their belief in Islam, but never recanted. 'Ammar, suffering under tortures himself and his mind acted on by the sufferings of his parents, uttered a word construed as recantation, though his heart never wavered and he came back at once to the Prophet, who consoled him for his pain and confirmed his faith.