وَإِن كَذَّبُوكَ فَقُل لِّى عَمَلِى وَلَكُمْ عَمَلُكُمْ ۖ أَنتُم بَرِيٓـُٔونَ مِمَّآ أَعْمَلُ وَأَنَا۠ بَرِىٓءٌۭ مِّمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ
If they deny you, say, ‘My deeds belong to me and your deeds belong to you: you are absolved of what I do and I am absolved of what you do.’
وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَسْتَمِعُونَ إِلَيْكَ ۚ أَفَأَنتَ تُسْمِعُ ٱلصُّمَّ وَلَوْ كَانُوا۟ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ
There are some of them who prick up their ears at you. But can you make the deaf hear even if they do not exercise their reason?
وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَنظُرُ إِلَيْكَ ۚ أَفَأَنتَ تَهْدِى ٱلْعُمْىَ وَلَوْ كَانُوا۟ لَا يُبْصِرُونَ
There are some of them who observe you. But can you guide the blind even if they do not perceive?
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَظْلِمُ ٱلنَّاسَ شَيْـًۭٔا وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱلنَّاسَ أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ
Indeed Allah does not wrong people in the least; rather, it is people who wrong themselves.
وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ كَأَن لَّمْ يَلْبَثُوٓا۟ إِلَّا سَاعَةًۭ مِّنَ ٱلنَّهَارِ يَتَعَارَفُونَ بَيْنَهُمْ ۚ قَدْ خَسِرَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِلِقَآءِ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا كَانُوا۟ مُهْتَدِينَ
On the day He will gather them [it will be] as if they had not remained [in the world] except for an hour of the day getting acquainted with one another. They are certainly losers who deny the encounter with Allah, and they are not guided.
وَإِمَّا نُرِيَنَّكَ بَعْضَ ٱلَّذِى نَعِدُهُمْ أَوْ نَتَوَفَّيَنَّكَ فَإِلَيْنَا مَرْجِعُهُمْ ثُمَّ ٱللَّهُ شَهِيدٌ عَلَىٰ مَا يَفْعَلُونَ
Whether We show you a part of what We promise them, or take you away [before that], [in any case] their return will be to Us and Allah will be witness to what they do.
وَلِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍۢ رَّسُولٌۭ ۖ فَإِذَا جَآءَ رَسُولُهُمْ قُضِىَ بَيْنَهُم بِٱلْقِسْطِ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ
There is an apostle for every nation; so when their apostle comes, judgement is made between them with justice, and they are not wronged.
وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَىٰ هَٰذَا ٱلْوَعْدُ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ
They say, ‘When will this promise be fulfilled, should you be truthful?’
قُل لَّآ أَمْلِكُ لِنَفْسِى ضَرًّۭا وَلَا نَفْعًا إِلَّا مَا شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ ۗ لِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلٌ ۚ إِذَا جَآءَ أَجَلُهُمْ فَلَا يَسْتَـْٔخِرُونَ سَاعَةًۭ ۖ وَلَا يَسْتَقْدِمُونَ
Say, ‘I have no control over any benefit for myself nor [over] any harm except what Allah may wish. There is a time for every nation: when their time comes, they shall not defer it by a single hour nor shall they advance it.’
قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَتَىٰكُمْ عَذَابُهُۥ بَيَٰتًا أَوْ نَهَارًۭا مَّاذَا يَسْتَعْجِلُ مِنْهُ ٱلْمُجْرِمُونَ
Say, ‘Tell me, should His punishment overtake you by night or day, [you will not be able to avert it]; so what part of it do the guilty seek to hasten?’
أَثُمَّ إِذَا مَا وَقَعَ ءَامَنتُم بِهِۦٓ ۚ ءَآلْـَٰٔنَ وَقَدْ كُنتُم بِهِۦ تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ
‘What! Do you believe it when it has befallen? Now? While you would seek to hasten it [earlier]?!’
ثُمَّ قِيلَ لِلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ ذُوقُوا۟ عَذَابَ ٱلْخُلْدِ هَلْ تُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَكْسِبُونَ
Then it will be said to those who were wrongdoers, ‘Taste the everlasting punishment. Shall you not be requited for what you used to earn?’
۞ وَيَسْتَنۢبِـُٔونَكَ أَحَقٌّ هُوَ ۖ قُلْ إِى وَرَبِّىٓ إِنَّهُۥ لَحَقٌّۭ ۖ وَمَآ أَنتُم بِمُعْجِزِينَ
They inquire of you, ‘Is it true?’ Say, ‘Yes! By my Lord, it is true, and you cannot frustrate [Him].’
وَلَوْ أَنَّ لِكُلِّ نَفْسٍۢ ظَلَمَتْ مَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ لَٱفْتَدَتْ بِهِۦ ۗ وَأَسَرُّوا۟ ٱلنَّدَامَةَ لَمَّا رَأَوُا۟ ٱلْعَذَابَ ۖ وَقُضِىَ بَيْنَهُم بِٱلْقِسْطِ ۚ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ
Were any soul that has done wrong to possess whatever there is on the earth, it would surely offer it for ransom. They will hide their remorse when they sight the punishment; and judgement will be made between them with justice and they will not be wronged.
أَلَآ إِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ أَلَآ إِنَّ وَعْدَ ٱللَّهِ حَقٌّۭ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
Look! To Allah indeed belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth. Look! Allah’s promise is indeed true; but most of them do not know.
هُوَ يُحْىِۦ وَيُمِيتُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
It is He who gives life and brings death, and to Him you shall be brought back.
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ قَدْ جَآءَتْكُم مَّوْعِظَةٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَشِفَآءٌۭ لِّمَا فِى ٱلصُّدُورِ وَهُدًۭى وَرَحْمَةٌۭ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
O mankind! There has certainly come to you an advice from your Lord, and a cure for what is in the breasts, and a guidance and mercy for the faithful.
قُلْ بِفَضْلِ ٱللَّهِ وَبِرَحْمَتِهِۦ فَبِذَٰلِكَ فَلْيَفْرَحُوا۟ هُوَ خَيْرٌۭ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ
Say, ‘In Allah’s grace and His mercy—let them rejoice in that! It is better than what they amass.’
قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُم مَّآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُم مِّن رِّزْقٍۢ فَجَعَلْتُم مِّنْهُ حَرَامًۭا وَحَلَٰلًۭا قُلْ ءَآللَّهُ أَذِنَ لَكُمْ ۖ أَمْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ تَفْتَرُونَ
Say, ‘Have you regarded what Allah has sent down for you of [His] provision, whereupon you have made some of it unlawful and [some] lawful?’ Say, ‘Did Allah give you the sanction [to do so], or do you fabricate a lie against Allah?’
وَمَا ظَنُّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ٱلْكَذِبَ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَشْكُرُونَ
What is the idea of those who fabricate lies against Allah [concerning their situation] on the Day of Resurrection? Indeed Allah is gracious to mankind, but most of them do not give thanks.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
Sources triangulated: Ṭabarsī, Majmaʿ al-Bayān [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan]; Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān [tusi_al_tibyan]; Baḥrānī, al-Burhān [bahrani_al_burhan]; al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī [qummi]; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan]; An Enlightening Commentary [enlightening_commentary]. All six are present for this passage; al-Qummī and al-Burhān are silent only on v.47/v.48 respectively. The four Arabic renderings are my own translations of the fetched Arabic.
The passage turns from the beliers' deafness and blindness (vv.42–43) — for which God "does not wrong men; they wrong themselves" (v.44) — to the brevity of worldly life at the Gathering (v.45) and the certainty of the reckoning whether the Prophet lives to see it or not (v.46). It then states the divine law that "for every community there is a messenger" and a decisive judgement (v.47), against which the deniers taunt "when is this promise?" (v.48); the reply insists the Prophet holds no power over the term, that every community has an appointed hour it cannot advance or delay, and that a sudden punishment is nothing to hasten (vv.49–52). Their mocking "is it true?" is met with a sworn "Yes, by my Lord" (v.53); the wrongdoer would ransom himself with all the earth and conceals his regret (v.54). The passage closes on God's absolute ownership and true promise (vv.55–56), the Qurʾān as admonition, healing, guidance and mercy in which to rejoice (vv.57–58), and the rebuke of those who forbid and permit of God's provision without leave (vv.59–60).
On "God does not wrong men" (v.44) Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī agree the verse means God bars none from profiting by the Qurʾān; men forfeit the reward themselves — and both draw the anti-Determinist (anti-Mujbira) conclusion that God does no wrong. Ṭūsī adds a sharp kalām distinction: "wrongdoer (ẓālim)" signifies that one did the wrong, unlike "knowing (ʿālim)" which signifies an attribute — so God cannot "do wrong yet not be a wrongdoer." Ṭabāṭabāʾī reads the verse as pointing to the deaf/blind of vv.42–43: their deprivation of the hearing and sight of the heart is the fruit of their self-wrong.
On the certainty and timing of the reckoning (vv.45–52) al-Mīzān gives the passage its frame: God decreed a sunna — a messenger to every community, then a decisive judgement — and this community is not exempt; the time is of the Unseen (v.20), but the necessity is shown by the general law that "every community has a term." Ṭabāṭabāʾī presses the pointed warning that the threat shifts mid-passage from "the polytheists" to "the guilty (al-mujrimūn)," and "among the people of the qibla are guilty like others" — expressly rejecting the notion that this community is exempted from worldly punishment. Strikingly, the Imāmī narration sources converge here from the eschatological angle: al-Qummī and al-Burhān (via the Bāqir) both gloss "if His punishment comes upon you by night or by day" (v.50) as "a punishment descending at the end of time upon the sinners of the people of the qibla, while they deny it" — a reading al-Mīzān explicitly cites and says "the verses support." Baḥrānī adds a Ṣādiq-tradition that the term "cannot be delayed an hour" is "what was named to the Angel of Death on the Night of Power."
On "believe in it… is it true?" (vv.51–53) the plain-sense readers take these as the disbelievers' belated, useless faith at the punishment and their mocking inquiry about the resurrection or the punishment, met by the Prophet's sworn affirmation. Here al-Qummī and al-Burhān again diverge into taʾwīl: "will you believe in it? Now?!" is read as belief "in the Commander of the Faithful" and the Return, "those who wronged" as those who wronged "the House of Muḥammad of their right," and "is it true?" (v.53) as the Meccans' question whether ʿAlī is an Imām / legatee, answered "Yes, by my Lord, it is true — an Imām." On v.47, al-Burhān likewise extends "messenger" by the bāṭin to "a messenger from the House of Muḥammad for every generation."
On concealing regret (v.54) the sources share a single striking tradition: Ṭabarsī, Ṭūsī, al-Qummī and al-Burhān all report — the last two with chains — the Ṣādiq's answer to "what profits them the concealing of regret while in the Fire?": "They disliked the gloating of the enemies (shamātat al-aʿdāʾ)." Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī also record the lexical dispute over asarrū (conceal vs. manifest), both siding, with al-Azharī, against Abū ʿUbayda's "manifest."
On God's ownership and true promise (vv.55–56) Ṭabāṭabāʾī builds his most developed argument: because everything in the heavens and earth is God's alone, His disposal rests on His will with no external cause or hindrance, so His promise is necessarily true — "most do not know" because they measure God's ownership by the flawed ownership of human potentates. Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī give the same verse more briefly as "affirmation after negation" (the wrongdoer has nothing to ransom with; all dominion is God's) and note al-Jubbāʾī's inference that only God has power over life.
On the Qurʾān and rejoicing (vv.57–58) all sources expound the four attributes — admonition, healing for the breasts, guidance, mercy — Ṭabāṭabāʾī tracing them as a single sequence from the first rousing to the final lodging "with the prophets and truthful," and Baḥrānī adding the Ṣādiq's practical counsel to a man with a chest-pain: "Seek healing by the Qurʾān." On "the bounty of God and His mercy" (v.58), the discursive commentaries list the standard glosses (Qurʾān/Islam, or Islam/Qurʾān), but all four Imāmī sources, plus Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī citing the Bāqir, carry the emphatic Shīʿī reading: the bounty is the Prophet and the mercy is ʿAlī (al-Burhān giving it at length through the ḥadīth of the Prophet ordering ʿAlī to ride when he rides), "in that let our Shīʿa rejoice — better than what our enemies amass of gold and silver." Ṭabāṭabāʾī notes this narration supports reading faḍl/raḥma as the special divine gift rather than the general blessing.
On forbidding and permitting God's provision (vv.59–60) Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī identify the target as the Arabs' self-invented dietary taboos (sāʾiba, baḥīra, waṣīla, ḥām), Ṭūsī noting some inferred from it that legal analogy (qiyās) is impermissible; al-Qummī and al-Burhān instead tie it to the People of the Book's taboos of al-Anʿām 136/139. Ṭabāṭabāʾī turns the verse into a major statement of his legal theology: the disjunction "did God permit you, or do you fabricate?" is exhaustive because legislation belongs to God alone — the true religion being what accords with the fiṭra and the created order — so every current ruling is either truly God's or a fabrication against Him, with no third.