أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ يَزْعُمُونَ أَنَّهُمْ ءَامَنُوا۟ بِمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَآ أُنزِلَ مِن قَبْلِكَ يُرِيدُونَ أَن يَتَحَاكَمُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱلطَّٰغُوتِ وَقَدْ أُمِرُوٓا۟ أَن يَكْفُرُوا۟ بِهِۦ وَيُرِيدُ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ أَن يُضِلَّهُمْ ضَلَٰلًۢا بَعِيدًۭا
Have you not regarded those who claim that they believe in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down before you? They desire to seek the judgment of fake deities, though they were commanded to reject them, and Satan desires to lead them astray into far error.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا۟ إِلَىٰ مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ وَإِلَى ٱلرَّسُولِ رَأَيْتَ ٱلْمُنَٰفِقِينَ يَصُدُّونَ عَنكَ صُدُودًۭا
When they are told, ‘Come to what Allah has sent down and [come] to the Apostle,’ you see the hypocrites keep away from you aversely.
فَكَيْفَ إِذَآ أَصَٰبَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌۢ بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ ثُمَّ جَآءُوكَ يَحْلِفُونَ بِٱللَّهِ إِنْ أَرَدْنَآ إِلَّآ إِحْسَٰنًۭا وَتَوْفِيقًا
But how will it be when an affliction visits them because of what their hands have sent ahead? Then they will come to you, swearing by Allah, ‘We desired nothing but to do good and to bring about comity.’
أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُ ٱللَّهُ مَا فِى قُلُوبِهِمْ فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ وَعِظْهُمْ وَقُل لَّهُمْ فِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ قَوْلًۢا بَلِيغًۭا
They are the ones whom Allah knows as to what is in their hearts. So let them alone, and advise them, and speak to them concerning themselves far-reaching words.
وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا لِيُطَاعَ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآءُوكَ فَٱسْتَغْفَرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ ٱلرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ تَوَّابًۭا رَّحِيمًۭا
We did not send any apostle but to be obeyed by Allah’s leave. Had they, when they wronged themselves, come to you and pleaded to Allah for forgiveness, and the Apostle had pleaded for them [to Allah]for forgiveness, they would have surely found Allah all-clement, all-merciful.
فَلَا وَرَبِّكَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ حَتَّىٰ يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُوا۟ فِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ حَرَجًۭا مِّمَّا قَضَيْتَ وَيُسَلِّمُوا۟ تَسْلِيمًۭا
But no, by your Lord! They will not believe until they make you a judge in their disputes, then do not find within their hearts any dissent to your verdict and submit in full submission.
وَلَوْ أَنَّا كَتَبْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَنِ ٱقْتُلُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمْ أَوِ ٱخْرُجُوا۟ مِن دِيَٰرِكُم مَّا فَعَلُوهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌۭ مِّنْهُمْ ۖ وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ فَعَلُوا۟ مَا يُوعَظُونَ بِهِۦ لَكَانَ خَيْرًۭا لَّهُمْ وَأَشَدَّ تَثْبِيتًۭا
Had We prescribed for them, [commanding]: ‘Slay [the guilty among] your folks or leave your habitations,’ they would not have done it except a few of them. And if they had done as they were advised, it would have been better for them and stronger in confirming [their faith].
وَإِذًۭا لَّءَاتَيْنَٰهُم مِّن لَّدُنَّآ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًۭا
Then We would surely have given them from Us a great reward,
وَلَهَدَيْنَٰهُمْ صِرَٰطًۭا مُّسْتَقِيمًۭا
and We would have guided them to a straight path.
وَمَن يُطِعِ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلرَّسُولَ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ مَعَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِم مِّنَ ٱلنَّبِيِّۦنَ وَٱلصِّدِّيقِينَ وَٱلشُّهَدَآءِ وَٱلصَّٰلِحِينَ ۚ وَحَسُنَ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ رَفِيقًۭا
Whoever obeys Allah and the Apostle—they are with those whom Allah has blessed, including the prophets and the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous, and excellent companions are they!
ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْفَضْلُ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ عَلِيمًۭا
That is the grace of Allah, and Allah suffices as knower [of His creatures].
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
Sources triangulated: Ṭabarsī [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan]; Ṭūsī [tusi_al_tibyan]; Baḥrānī, al-Burhān [bahrani_al_burhan]; al-Qummī [qummi]; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan]; An Enlightening Commentary [enlightening_commentary]. All six are present (non-silent).
The passage indicts the hypocrites who profess faith yet seek arbitration from ṭāghūt (vv.60–63), affirms that messengers are sent to be obeyed and that forgiveness comes through coming to the Messenger (v.64), makes true faith conditional on submitting without inner resistance to the Prophet's judgement (v.65), notes that few would bear the harshest commands while obedience brings reward and guidance (vv.66–68), and crowns obedience with the company of the prophets, truthful, martyrs and righteous (vv.69–70).
1. ṭāghūt and false arbitration (vv.60–61). All sources read the seeking of judgement from ṭāghūt as the hypocrites' rejection of the Prophet's authority — Ṭabarsī, Ṭūsī and al-Mīzān giving the Jew-vs-hypocrite occasion, and Ṭabarsī/Ṭūsī adding al-Bāqir's gloss that ṭāghūt is anyone who judges by other than the truth. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] [tabatabai_al_mizan] [qummi]
2. Submission without resistance (v.65). All read the oath 'by your Lord they do not believe until they make you judge... and submit fully' as the very definition of faith, and Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī both cite al-Ṣādiq's stern dictum that inner resistance to the Prophet's act is tantamount to shirk. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] [tabatabai_al_mizan] [enlightening_commentary]
3. The few who would obey the hardest command (v.66). Ṭabarsī, Ṭūsī and al-Mīzān agree the verse measures sincerity against the example of Moses' people, naming the steadfast few. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] [tabatabai_al_mizan]
4. The four blessed ranks (v.69). All sources celebrate the obedient believer's company with the prophets, truthful, martyrs and righteous; Ṭabarsī, the Enlightening Commentary and al-Mīzān give the Thawbān/Anṣārī occasion and the ḥadīth of loving the Prophet above all. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tabatabai_al_mizan] [enlightening_commentary]
The sectarian recasting of the hypocrite-cluster (vv.61–65). al-Qummī systematically reads the whole passage as polemic: the hypocrites who 'bar from the Messenger' are the enemies of the Family of Muḥammad; the 'calamity' of v.62 is the swallowing-up (khasf) of the 'usurpers of the caliphate' at the Pool (also al-Burhān, from al-Bāqir and al-Ṣādiq); and vv.64–65 carry the variant readings inserting 'O ʿAlī' — making submission to the Prophet's judgement submission to ʿAlī's walāya. [qummi] [bahrani_al_burhan] Ṭabarsī, Ṭūsī, al-Mīzān and the Enlightening Commentary keep the historical sense (the Medinan hypocrites and their arbitration). [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tusi_al_tibyan] [tabatabai_al_mizan] [enlightening_commentary]
The four ranks as the Prophet's House (v.69). al-Qummī and al-Burhān read the prophets, truthful, martyrs and righteous as the Prophet, ʿAlī, al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, the Imāms and the Qāʾim — and al-Ṣādiq tells the Shīʿa they are the 'righteous' of the verse; al-Burhān adds the light-creation narration of the Five. [qummi] [bahrani_al_burhan] Ṭabarsī reports the same al-Ṣādiq saying alongside the plain universal reading, which the English sources keep. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] [tabatabai_al_mizan] [enlightening_commentary] These charged Imāmī readings are recorded here as what the sources transmit, not as endorsed interpretation.