Sūrah 81 · Āyāt 15–29

The passage (81:15-29). The Surah's second half pivots from the terrors of the Hour to a defence of the Revelation itself. God swears by the receding, running, hiding stars (15-16), by the departing night (17) and the breathing dawn (18), that "it is the word of a noble messenger" (19) — described by five attributes (20-21) — that "your companion is not mad" (22), that he saw the messenger "on the clear horizon" (23), withholds nothing of the unseen (24), and that "it is not the word of an accursed devil" (25). It closes with the reproach "so where are you going?" (26), the universal "it is only a reminder for the worlds" (27), conditioned on "whoever wills to go straight" (28), and finally the will of God over the will of man (29).

The oaths. On al-khunnas al-jawar al-kunnas, al-Mizan, al-Tabarsi and al-Tusi converge — with a narration from 'Ali — on the five wandering planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury), whose direct motion, retrogression and station match "running," "receding" and "hiding"; al-Mizan judges this the nearest of the views, ahead of "the stars absolutely" or "wild cows/gazelles." On 'as'asa (the night), all three prefer "it departs/retreats," as fitting the following clause; on tanaffasa (the dawn), al-Mizan and Tusi read the spreading of its light as a "breathing," al-Mizan also reporting al-Zamakhshari's "a breeze comes with the dawn."

The noble messenger. All four classical sources identify the rasul karim as Gabriel and the "word" as the Qur'an, God's speech heard from Gabriel (citing 2:97 in al-Mizan). Al-Mizan enumerates six attributes of praise and stresses that praising Gabriel does not imply his superiority over the Prophet — the aim being to certify the channel of revelation — adding that God made the angels prostrate to the human vicegerent. Al-Tabarsi and al-Tusi carry the famous narration of Gabriel's power (the destruction of Lot's cities) and his trust; al-Tabarsi adds the Ascension detail of the angels' obedience to him. On bi-danin/bi-zanin (24), the sources note both readings — "not suspected" concerning the revelation and "not miserly" with it — al-Tabarsi recalling that the Prophet was known as al-Amin (with Abu Talib's verse).

The Imami ta'wil. Distinctively, al-Qummi and al-Burhan transmit, as-attributed, an esoteric reading of the whole passage through Abu Basir from Imam al-Sadiq: muta'in thamma amin = the Messenger himself, "your companion is not mad" = not mad "in appointing the Commander of the Faithful as a standard for the people," "where are you going?" = "concerning 'Ali — his walaya," and "whoever wills to go straight" = "in obedience to 'Ali and the Imams." Most strikingly, al-Burhan carries Umm Hani's narration from Imam al-Baqir reading al-khunnas as "an Imam who recedes in the year two hundred and sixty, then rises like a piercing meteor in the dark night" — the classic proof-text for the Occultation — alongside 'Ali's reply to Ibn al-Kawwa' (the "receding" ones = those who concealed the legatees' knowledge; the dawn = the legatees, whose knowledge is "clearer than the breathing morn").

Free will and the divine will. On wa-ma tasha'una illa an yasha'a Allah (29), al-Mizan reads a reply to an anticipated claim of independent will: man's voluntary acts are willed by God "by way of His will" — that man act by his own will — while al-Tabarsi and al-Tusi record three classical views (uprightness already willed by God; the power to enable or prevent; the grace shown in uprightness). Al-Qummi and al-Burhan add the Imami narration that "God made the hearts of the Imams a resource for His will," and Ibn 'Abbas's report of the "three hundred and some worlds beyond Qaf." Al-Tusi closes with the Prophet's word that "Hud and its sisters, al-Waqi'a and 'When the sun is wound round' have aged me."