وَإِنَّ يُونُسَ لَمِنَ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ
Indeed Jonah was one of the apostles.
إِذْ أَبَقَ إِلَى ٱلْفُلْكِ ٱلْمَشْحُونِ
When he absconded toward the laden ship,
فَسَاهَمَ فَكَانَ مِنَ ٱلْمُدْحَضِينَ
he drew lots with them and was the one to be condemned [as one to be thrown overboard].
فَٱلْتَقَمَهُ ٱلْحُوتُ وَهُوَ مُلِيمٌۭ
Then the fish swallowed him while he was blameworthy.
فَلَوْلَآ أَنَّهُۥ كَانَ مِنَ ٱلْمُسَبِّحِينَ
Had he not been one of those who celebrate Allah’s glory,
لَلَبِثَ فِى بَطْنِهِۦٓ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ
he would have surely remained in its belly till the day they will be resurrected.
۞ فَنَبَذْنَٰهُ بِٱلْعَرَآءِ وَهُوَ سَقِيمٌۭ
Then We cast him on a bare shore, and he was sick.
وَأَنۢبَتْنَا عَلَيْهِ شَجَرَةًۭ مِّن يَقْطِينٍۢ
So We made a gourd plant grow above him.
وَأَرْسَلْنَٰهُ إِلَىٰ مِا۟ئَةِ أَلْفٍ أَوْ يَزِيدُونَ
We sent him to a [community of] hundred thousand or more,
فَـَٔامَنُوا۟ فَمَتَّعْنَٰهُمْ إِلَىٰ حِينٍۢ
and they believed [in him]. So We provided for them for a while.
فَٱسْتَفْتِهِمْ أَلِرَبِّكَ ٱلْبَنَاتُ وَلَهُمُ ٱلْبَنُونَ
Ask them, are daughters to be for your Lord while sons are to be for them?
أَمْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةَ إِنَٰثًۭا وَهُمْ شَٰهِدُونَ
Did We create the angels females while they were present?
أَلَآ إِنَّهُم مِّنْ إِفْكِهِمْ لَيَقُولُونَ
Be aware that it is out of their mendacity that they say,
وَلَدَ ٱللَّهُ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَكَٰذِبُونَ
‘Allah has begotten [offsprings],’ and they indeed speak a falsehood.
أَصْطَفَى ٱلْبَنَاتِ عَلَى ٱلْبَنِينَ
Has He preferred daughters to sons?
مَا لَكُمْ كَيْفَ تَحْكُمُونَ
What is the matter with you? How do you judge?
أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ
Will you not then take admonition?
أَمْ لَكُمْ سُلْطَٰنٌۭ مُّبِينٌۭ
Do you have a manifest authority?
فَأْتُوا۟ بِكِتَٰبِكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ
Then produce your scripture, should you be truthful.
وَجَعَلُوا۟ بَيْنَهُۥ وَبَيْنَ ٱلْجِنَّةِ نَسَبًۭا ۚ وَلَقَدْ عَلِمَتِ ٱلْجِنَّةُ إِنَّهُمْ لَمُحْضَرُونَ
And they have set up a kinship between Him and the jinn, while the jinn certainly know that they will be presented [before Him].
سُبْحَٰنَ ٱللَّهِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ
Clear is Allah of whatever they allege [about Him]
إِلَّا عِبَادَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلْمُخْلَصِينَ
—[all] except Allah’s exclusive servants.
فَإِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ
Indeed you and what you worship
مَآ أَنتُمْ عَلَيْهِ بِفَٰتِنِينَ
cannot mislead [anyone] about Him,
إِلَّا مَنْ هُوَ صَالِ ٱلْجَحِيمِ
except someone who is bound for hell.
وَمَا مِنَّآ إِلَّا لَهُۥ مَقَامٌۭ مَّعْلُومٌۭ
‘There is none among us but has a known place.
وَإِنَّا لَنَحْنُ ٱلصَّآفُّونَ
It is we who are the ranged ones.
وَإِنَّا لَنَحْنُ ٱلْمُسَبِّحُونَ
It is we who celebrate Allah’s glory.’
وَإِن كَانُوا۟ لَيَقُولُونَ
They indeed, used to say,
لَوْ أَنَّ عِندَنَا ذِكْرًۭا مِّنَ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ
‘Had we possessed a Reminder from our predecessors,
لَكُنَّا عِبَادَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلْمُخْلَصِينَ
we would have surely been Allah’s exclusive servants.’
فَكَفَرُوا۟ بِهِۦ ۖ فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ
But they disbelieved it [when it came to them]. Soon they will know!
وَلَقَدْ سَبَقَتْ كَلِمَتُنَا لِعِبَادِنَا ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ
Certainly Our decree has gone beforehand in favour of Our servants, the apostles,
إِنَّهُمْ لَهُمُ ٱلْمَنصُورُونَ
that they will indeed receive [Allah’s] help,
وَإِنَّ جُندَنَا لَهُمُ ٱلْغَٰلِبُونَ
and indeed Our hosts will be the victors.
فَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّىٰ حِينٍۢ
So leave them alone for a while,
وَأَبْصِرْهُمْ فَسَوْفَ يُبْصِرُونَ
and watch them; soon they will see [the truth of the matter]!
أَفَبِعَذَابِنَا يَسْتَعْجِلُونَ
Do they seek to hasten Our punishment?
فَإِذَا نَزَلَ بِسَاحَتِهِمْ فَسَآءَ صَبَاحُ ٱلْمُنذَرِينَ
But when it descends in their courtyard it will be a dismal dawn for those who had been warned.
وَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّىٰ حِينٍۢ
So leave them alone for a while,
وَأَبْصِرْ فَسَوْفَ يُبْصِرُونَ
and watch; soon they will see!
سُبْحَٰنَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ ٱلْعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ
Clear is your Lord, the Lord of Might, of whatever they allege [concerning Him].
وَسَلَٰمٌ عَلَى ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ
Peace be to the apostles!
وَٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
What the passage says. Jonah fled to a laden ship, "cast lots and was overcome," and the fish swallowed him — "and had he not been of those who glorify God, he would have remained in its belly till the Day of Resurrection." Cast on the barren shore, sick, shaded by a gourd, he was sent to "a hundred thousand or more," who believed and were spared (vv. 139–148). The sūra then turns on the idolaters: do you assign daughters to God and sons to yourselves? — bring your proof (vv. 149–160); you and your gods can tempt none but the Fire-bound; and the angels themselves confess, "there is none of us but has a known station… we are the ranged, we are the glorifiers" (vv. 161–166). Quraysh claimed a Reminder from the ancients would have made them sincere — then disbelieved the one that came (vv. 167–170). God's word has gone forth: His messengers are the aided, His host the victors; so turn from them a while and watch (vv. 171–179) — closing with "Glory to your Lord, the Lord of might, above what they ascribe; and peace upon the messengers; and praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds" (vv. 180–182).
How the present sources read it. On Jonah, the four Arabic sources agree he "fled" (not disobeying an express command, but blameworthy for leaving without leave — al-Ṭabarsī, al-Ṭūsī and al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī all guard his prophetic rank) and that his glorification in the belly was the cause of his rescue. al-Baḥrānī carries the fullest narrative — the two counsellors Malīkhā and Rūbīl, the people's repentance, the encounter with Korah in the whale, the testifying sheep — and both al-Baḥrānī and al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī anchor "he cast lots" in the Imāmī doctrine that the qurʿa is the justest judgement when a matter is committed to God, and in the tradition that the divine walāya was offered to Jonah, whose hesitation brought him to the whale — al-Baḥrānī adding Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn's demonstration with the whale itself. These are given strictly as their sources attribute them.
On the daughters-of-God, all four sources read the passage as a step-by-step dismantling of the claim (the angels are neither offspring, nor female, nor witnessed as such, nor supported by any Book), and gloss "a kinship between Him and the jinn" variously (dualism; the angels called "jinna"; a marriage with the jinn; making Satan a partner). The passage's Imāmī signature is "there is none of us but has a known station… we are the ranged, we are the glorifiers": al-Qummī and al-Baḥrānī carry al-Ṣādiq's Shihāb tradition and ʿAlī's word that "we, the Family of Muḥammad, were lights around the Throne… we are the ranged, we are the glorifiers," reading "maqām maʿlūm" of the Imams — while al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī reads the same verses as Gabriel's, a refutation of angel-worship by the angels' own confession of pure servanthood. Both readings are rendered as-attributed. On the seal, al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī dwells on "glory to Him… save the sincere servants" — that only those God purified describe Him as befits Him — and al-Baḥrānī closes with al-Bāqir's word that "the Lord of might" bespeaks God's being Mighty "with none before His might." al-Ṭabarsī ends, fittingly, with the tradition that whoever would be "measured with the fullest measure of reward" should make these three closing verses the last of his words in any gathering.