أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُۥ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱلطَّيْرُ صَٰٓفَّٰتٍۢ ۖ كُلٌّۭ قَدْ عَلِمَ صَلَاتَهُۥ وَتَسْبِيحَهُۥ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌۢ بِمَا يَفْعَلُونَ
Have you not regarded that Allah is glorified by everyone in the heavens and the earth, and the birds spreading their wings. Each knows his prayer and glorification, and Allah knows best what they do.
وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ وَإِلَى ٱللَّهِ ٱلْمَصِيرُ
To Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and toward Allah is the destination.
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُزْجِى سَحَابًۭا ثُمَّ يُؤَلِّفُ بَيْنَهُۥ ثُمَّ يَجْعَلُهُۥ رُكَامًۭا فَتَرَى ٱلْوَدْقَ يَخْرُجُ مِنْ خِلَٰلِهِۦ وَيُنَزِّلُ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مِن جِبَالٍۢ فِيهَا مِنۢ بَرَدٍۢ فَيُصِيبُ بِهِۦ مَن يَشَآءُ وَيَصْرِفُهُۥ عَن مَّن يَشَآءُ ۖ يَكَادُ سَنَا بَرْقِهِۦ يَذْهَبُ بِٱلْأَبْصَٰرِ
Have you not regarded that Allah drives the clouds, then He composes them, then He piles them up, whereat you see the rain issuing from its midst? And He sends down hail from the sky, out of the mountains that are in it, and He strikes with it whomever He wishes, and turns it away from whomever He wishes. The brilliance of its lightening almost takes away the sight.
يُقَلِّبُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّيْلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ ۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَعِبْرَةًۭ لِّأُو۟لِى ٱلْأَبْصَٰرِ
Allah alternates the night and the day. There is indeed a lesson in that for those who have insight.
وَٱللَّهُ خَلَقَ كُلَّ دَآبَّةٍۢ مِّن مَّآءٍۢ ۖ فَمِنْهُم مَّن يَمْشِى عَلَىٰ بَطْنِهِۦ وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَمْشِى عَلَىٰ رِجْلَيْنِ وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَمْشِى عَلَىٰٓ أَرْبَعٍۢ ۚ يَخْلُقُ ٱللَّهُ مَا يَشَآءُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدِيرٌۭ
Allah created every animal from water. Among them are some that creep upon their bellies, and among them are some that walk on two feet, and among them are some that walk on four. Allah creates whatever He wishes. Indeed Allah has power over all things.
لَّقَدْ أَنزَلْنَآ ءَايَٰتٍۢ مُّبَيِّنَٰتٍۢ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ يَهْدِى مَن يَشَآءُ إِلَىٰ صِرَٰطٍۢ مُّسْتَقِيمٍۢ
Certainly We have sent down illuminating signs, and Allah guides whomever He wishes to a straight path.
وَيَقُولُونَ ءَامَنَّا بِٱللَّهِ وَبِٱلرَّسُولِ وَأَطَعْنَا ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّىٰ فَرِيقٌۭ مِّنْهُم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ ۚ وَمَآ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ بِٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
They say, ‘We have faith in Allah and His Apostle, and we obey.’ Then, after that, a part of them refuse to comply, and they do not have faith.
وَإِذَا دُعُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ إِذَا فَرِيقٌۭ مِّنْهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ
When they are summoned to Allah and His Apostle that He may judge between them, behold, a part of them turn aside.
وَإِن يَكُن لَّهُمُ ٱلْحَقُّ يَأْتُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِ مُذْعِنِينَ
But if justice be on their side, they come compliantly to him.
أَفِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ أَمِ ٱرْتَابُوٓا۟ أَمْ يَخَافُونَ أَن يَحِيفَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَرَسُولُهُۥ ۚ بَلْ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلظَّٰلِمُونَ
Is there a sickness in their hearts? Do they have doubts, or fear that Allah and His Apostle will be unjust to them? Indeed, it is they who are the wrongdoers.
إِنَّمَا كَانَ قَوْلَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذَا دُعُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ أَن يَقُولُوا۟ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۚ وَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ
All the response of the faithful, when they are summoned to Allah and His Apostle that He may judge between them, is to say, ‘We hear and obey.’ It is they who are the felicitous.
وَمَن يُطِعِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ وَيَخْشَ ٱللَّهَ وَيَتَّقْهِ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْفَآئِزُونَ
Whoever obeys Allah and His Apostle, and fears Allah and is wary of Him—it is they who will be the triumphant.
۞ وَأَقْسَمُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ جَهْدَ أَيْمَٰنِهِمْ لَئِنْ أَمَرْتَهُمْ لَيَخْرُجُنَّ ۖ قُل لَّا تُقْسِمُوا۟ ۖ طَاعَةٌۭ مَّعْرُوفَةٌ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ خَبِيرٌۢ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
They swear by Allah with solemn oaths that if you order them they will surely march out. Say, ‘Do not swear! Honourable obedience [is all that is expected of you]. Allah is indeed well aware of what you do.’
قُلْ أَطِيعُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا۟ ٱلرَّسُولَ ۖ فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا۟ فَإِنَّمَا عَلَيْهِ مَا حُمِّلَ وَعَلَيْكُم مَّا حُمِّلْتُمْ ۖ وَإِن تُطِيعُوهُ تَهْتَدُوا۟ ۚ وَمَا عَلَى ٱلرَّسُولِ إِلَّا ٱلْبَلَٰغُ ٱلْمُبِينُ
Say, ‘Obey Allah, and obey the Apostle.’ But if you turn your backs, [you should know that] he is only responsible for his burden and you are responsible for your own burden, and if you obey him, you will be guided, and the Apostle’s duty is only to communicate in clear terms.
وَعَدَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ كَمَا ٱسْتَخْلَفَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ ٱلَّذِى ٱرْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًۭا ۚ يَعْبُدُونَنِى لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِى شَيْـًۭٔا ۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْفَٰسِقُونَ
Allah has promised those of you who have faith and do righteous deeds that He will surely make them successors in the earth, just as He made those who were before them successors, and He will surely establish for them their religion which He has approved for them, and that He will surely change their state to security after their fear, while they worship Me, not ascribing any partners to Me. Whoever is ungrateful after that—it is they who are the transgressors.
وَأَقِيمُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتُوا۟ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَأَطِيعُوا۟ ٱلرَّسُولَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ
Maintain the prayer and give the zakat, and obey the Apostle so that you may receive [Allah’s] mercy.
لَا تَحْسَبَنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مُعْجِزِينَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ وَمَأْوَىٰهُمُ ٱلنَّارُ ۖ وَلَبِئْسَ ٱلْمَصِيرُ
Do not suppose that those who are faithless can frustrate [Allah] on the earth. Their refuge shall be the Fire, and it is surely an evil destination.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
What the passage says. After the Light, the sūra turns to God's signs: all in the heavens and earth glorify Him, and the birds "each know their prayer" (v.41); He owns the kingdom (v.42); He drives the clouds, sends rain and hail, alternates night and day, and "created every creeping thing from water" (vv.43–45); He has "sent down clarifying signs" (v.46). It then exposes the hypocrites who profess faith yet turn from the Prophet's judgment "if the right is against them" (vv.47–50), against the believers whose only word is "we hear and we obey" (vv.51–52); rebukes their hollow oaths and enjoins obedience to God and the Messenger (vv.53–54); and gives the great promise of succession (istikhlāf) — that the believers who do righteous deeds will be made "successors in the land… their fear exchanged for security" (v.55) — closing with prayer, zakāt, obedience, and a warning to the disbelievers (vv.56–57).
How the present sources read the signs. All six are present. On v.41, al-Qummī [qummi] and al-Baḥrānī [bahrani_al_burhan] transmit al-Aṣbagh's vivid ḥadīth of the cosmic angel-cock whose crest is beneath the Throne and whose crowing every earthly cock answers, plus reports that a bird is caught "only through neglecting its glorification"; Ṭabarsī [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan], al-Ṭūsī [tusi_al_tibyan] and al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan] read the passage as the proof-structure for God's light — al-Mīzān drawing from it the two lights (general and special) and a philosophical discussion of divine causality. On the "creeping things" (v.45) all four Arabic sources share al-Ṣādiq's addition, "and some go on more than that." On the rain (v.43) al-Baḥrānī preserves ʿAlī standing in the first rain ("water newly come from the Throne") and the clouds as "God's sieves."
The judgment and the succession — read as-attributed. On vv.47–52 the Shīʿī sources (al-Qummī, al-Baḥrānī, and Ṭabarsī/al-Ṭūsī reporting from al-Bāqir) give the occasion as the ʿAlī–ʿUthmān land dispute, in which ʿUthmān, advised by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf, refused the Prophet's judgment for a Jewish arbiter who himself rebuked them — al-Baḥrānī stacking several chains, including Sunnī ones, and identifying "the believers… those are the successful" with ʿAlī. The heart of the passage is v.55, the istikhlāf, a locus of sharp divergence rendered strictly as each source frames it: al-Qummī reads it of "the Imams… whose taʾwīl comes after its tanzīl"; al-Baḥrānī gives the fullest Mahdī dossier — the Qāʾim and his companions, Jundal's ḥadīth naming the Twelve, the Nūḥ-ark parable of the occultation, the Jafr, and the Imam's explicit rejection of the Nāṣibī reading that the verse concerns Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān and ʿAlī. Ṭabarsī lays out the classical options (the Companions, Banū Isrāʾīl) and then the Ahl al-Bayt reading (the Mahdī, via ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn), noting unqualified worldly establishment "has never yet occurred, so it is awaited." Al-Ṭūsī mounts a detailed refutation of al-Jubbāʾī's argument that istikhlāf proves the caliphate of the four (that "establishment" means the conquests) — replying that succession here is standing-in-stead, realized in the Prophet's own lifetime, that conquest-as-establishment would equally validate the Umayyads, and that the Ahl al-Bayt referred it to the Mahdī. Al-Mīzān reaches the same terminus by its contextual method: the promise is to a part of the community (the righteous believers), the pure society it describes "has not been realized to this day," so on its full sense it fits only the Mahdī's age — and "applying the verse to the four caliphs, or the first three, or ʿAlī alone, is by no means admissible." The published Enlightening Commentary [enlightening_commentary] carries the English exposition throughout.
Sources present: tabarsi_majma_al_bayan, qummi, tusi_al_tibyan, bahrani_al_burhan, tabatabai_al_mizan, enlightening_commentary; silent: none.