(33) “For everyone We have appointed heirs to what parents and close relatives leave behind. As for those with whom you have entered into a covenant, give them their due share. Surely Allah is Witness over all things.”

That is, for every person, “We have appointed heirs”—people whom he supports and who support him, providing one another with strength, protection, and assistance in their affairs—“to what parents and close relatives leave behind.” This includes all relatives: ascendants, descendants, and collateral kin. These are the heirs bound to him by kinship.

He then mentioned another kind of ally, saying, “As for those with whom you have entered into a covenant”—that is, those with whom you have sworn a pact of mutual defense, assistance, the sharing of wealth, and other matters. All of this is among Allah’s blessings upon His servants, for through such bonds allies help one another accomplish what none of them could accomplish alone.

Allah Most High says, “Give them their due share”—that is, give these allies the share due to them by fulfilling their rights of defense, cooperation, and assistance in anything that does not involve disobedience to Allah. Inheritance, however, belongs to the nearest relatives among the heirs.

“Surely Allah is Witness over all things”—that is, He is fully aware of everything through His knowledge of all matters, His sight of all His servants’ movements, and His hearing of all their voices.