وَلَقَدْ نَادَىٰنَا نُوحٌۭ فَلَنِعْمَ ٱلْمُجِيبُونَ
Certainly Noah called out to Us, and how well did We respond!
وَنَجَّيْنَٰهُ وَأَهْلَهُۥ مِنَ ٱلْكَرْبِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ
We delivered him and his family from their great distress,
وَجَعَلْنَا ذُرِّيَّتَهُۥ هُمُ ٱلْبَاقِينَ
and made his descendants the survivors,
وَتَرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ فِى ٱلْءَاخِرِينَ
and left for him a good name among posterity:
سَلَٰمٌ عَلَىٰ نُوحٍۢ فِى ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
‘Peace to Noah, throughout the nations!’
إِنَّا كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِى ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ
Thus do We reward the virtuous.
إِنَّهُۥ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
He is indeed one of Our faithful servants.
ثُمَّ أَغْرَقْنَا ٱلْءَاخَرِينَ
Then We drowned the rest.
۞ وَإِنَّ مِن شِيعَتِهِۦ لَإِبْرَٰهِيمَ
Indeed Abraham was among his followers,
إِذْ جَآءَ رَبَّهُۥ بِقَلْبٍۢ سَلِيمٍ
when he came to his Lord with a sound heart [untainted by sin].
إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِۦ مَاذَا تَعْبُدُونَ
When he said to his father and his people, ‘What is it that you are worshiping?
أَئِفْكًا ءَالِهَةًۭ دُونَ ٱللَّهِ تُرِيدُونَ
Is it a lie, gods other than Allah, that you desire?
فَمَا ظَنُّكُم بِرَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
Then what is your idea about the Lord of all the worlds?’
فَنَظَرَ نَظْرَةًۭ فِى ٱلنُّجُومِ
Then he made an observation of the stars
فَقَالَ إِنِّى سَقِيمٌۭ
and said, ‘Indeed I am sick!’
فَتَوَلَّوْا۟ عَنْهُ مُدْبِرِينَ
So they went away leaving him behind.
فَرَاغَ إِلَىٰٓ ءَالِهَتِهِمْ فَقَالَ أَلَا تَأْكُلُونَ
Then he stole away to their gods and said, ‘Will you not eat?
مَا لَكُمْ لَا تَنطِقُونَ
Why do you not speak?’
فَرَاغَ عَلَيْهِمْ ضَرْبًۢا بِٱلْيَمِينِ
Then he attacked them, striking forcefully.
فَأَقْبَلُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِ يَزِفُّونَ
They came running towards him.
قَالَ أَتَعْبُدُونَ مَا تَنْحِتُونَ
He said, ‘Do you worship what you have yourselves carved,
وَٱللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
when Allah has created you and whatever you make?’
قَالُوا۟ ٱبْنُوا۟ لَهُۥ بُنْيَٰنًۭا فَأَلْقُوهُ فِى ٱلْجَحِيمِ
They said, ‘Build a structure for him and cast him into a huge fire.’
فَأَرَادُوا۟ بِهِۦ كَيْدًۭا فَجَعَلْنَٰهُمُ ٱلْأَسْفَلِينَ
So they sought to outwit him, but We made them the lowermost.
وَقَالَ إِنِّى ذَاهِبٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّى سَيَهْدِينِ
He said, ‘Indeed I am going toward my Lord, who will guide me.’
رَبِّ هَبْ لِى مِنَ ٱلصَّٰلِحِينَ
‘My Lord! Give me [an heir], one of the righteous.’
فَبَشَّرْنَٰهُ بِغُلَٰمٍ حَلِيمٍۢ
So We gave him the good news of a forbearing son.
فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مَعَهُ ٱلسَّعْىَ قَالَ يَٰبُنَىَّ إِنِّىٓ أَرَىٰ فِى ٱلْمَنَامِ أَنِّىٓ أَذْبَحُكَ فَٱنظُرْ مَاذَا تَرَىٰ ۚ قَالَ يَٰٓأَبَتِ ٱفْعَلْ مَا تُؤْمَرُ ۖ سَتَجِدُنِىٓ إِن شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مِنَ ٱلصَّٰبِرِينَ
When he was old enough to assist in his endeavour, he said, ‘My son! I see in dreams that I am sacrificing you. See what you think.’ He said, ‘Father! Do whatever you have been commanded. If Allah wishes, you will find me to be patient.’
فَلَمَّآ أَسْلَمَا وَتَلَّهُۥ لِلْجَبِينِ
So when they had both surrendered [to Allah’s will], and he had laid him down on his forehead,
وَنَٰدَيْنَٰهُ أَن يَٰٓإِبْرَٰهِيمُ
We called out to him, ‘O Abraham!
قَدْ صَدَّقْتَ ٱلرُّءْيَآ ۚ إِنَّا كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِى ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ
You have indeed fulfilled your vision! Thus indeed do We reward the virtuous!
إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَهُوَ ٱلْبَلَٰٓؤُا۟ ٱلْمُبِينُ
This was indeed a manifest test.’
وَفَدَيْنَٰهُ بِذِبْحٍ عَظِيمٍۢ
Then We ransomed him with a great sacrifice,
وَتَرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ فِى ٱلْءَاخِرِينَ
and left for him a good name in posterity:
سَلَٰمٌ عَلَىٰٓ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ
‘Peace be to Abraham!’
كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِى ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ
Thus do We reward the virtuous.
إِنَّهُۥ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
He is indeed one of Our faithful servants.
وَبَشَّرْنَٰهُ بِإِسْحَٰقَ نَبِيًّۭا مِّنَ ٱلصَّٰلِحِينَ
And We gave him the good news of [the birth of] Isaac, a prophet, one of the righteous.
وَبَٰرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَىٰٓ إِسْحَٰقَ ۚ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِهِمَا مُحْسِنٌۭ وَظَالِمٌۭ لِّنَفْسِهِۦ مُبِينٌۭ
And We blessed him and Isaac. Among their descendants [some] are virtuous, and [some] who manifestly wrong themselves.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
What the passage says. After warning that most of the ancients strayed despite the warners sent them, the sūra opens its roll of prophets. Noah called out and was answered: God saved him and his household from the great distress, made his descendants the survivors, and left upon him a lasting salutation — "peace be upon Noah in all the worlds" — while the rest were drowned (vv. 75–82). Of Noah's party was Abraham, who came to his Lord "with a sound heart," confronted his father and people over their idols, gazed at the stars and said "I am sick," smashed the idols, and was cast into a fire God turned harmless (vv. 83–98). Emigrating "to my Lord," he prayed for a righteous son and was given "a forbearing boy"; when the boy reached striving-age, Abraham saw in a dream that he must sacrifice him, and both submitted — then the call came, "you have fulfilled the vision," and God "ransomed him with a great sacrifice" (vv. 99–107). Tidings of Isaac follow, and a blessing on both, whose offspring include the doer of good and the plain wrongdoer (vv. 108–113).
How the present sources read it. On Noah, al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī reads "We left upon him among the later folk" as God's keeping his call to tawḥīd alive age after age, and calls "peace be upon Noah in all the worlds" the widest salutation in the Book. On "and of his party was Abraham," al-Qummī, al-Ṭūsī and al-Baḥrānī all carry al-Bāqir's word "may the name (the Shīʿa) bring you joy," and al-Baḥrānī expands it into the vision in which Abraham is shown the lights of the Fourteen and prays to be "of the Shīʿa of the Commander of the Faithful" — rendered here strictly as the source attributes it. All four Arabic sources gloss "a sound heart" as one free of doubt and (from al-Ṣādiq) attached to none but God.
On "I am sick," the sources labour to clear Abraham of untruth: al-Ṭabarsī and al-Ṭūsī catalogue the readings (a foreseen fever; speaking as the astrologers did; heart-sickness at idolatry) and both flatly reject the notion that a prophet may lie — even the "three lies" report they bear on tawriya. al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī agrees the sense is either a fixed-time reading or allusive, but insists maʿārīḍ are not licit of prophets. al-Baḥrānī alone preserves the arresting Imāmī reading: Abraham "reckoned, and saw what would befall al-Ḥusayn, and said 'I am sick' for al-Ḥusayn."
The heart of the passage is the sacrifice. All four Arabic sources report the vivid narration — Gabriel turning the blade, the ram drawn from Thabīr, the call from the Mosque of al-Khayf, Iblīs as the tempting old man — and all four weigh the identity of the ransomed son. al-Ṭabarsī lists both camps (Isaac: ʿAlī, Ibn Masʿūd, Qatāda…; Ishmael: Ibn ʿAbbās, Mujāhid, al-Ḥasan…) and judges Ishmael "more apparent," as do al-Ṭūsī, al-Qummī and al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī — the decisive argument being that the tidings of Isaac (v. 112) come after the sacrifice, and the Prophet's word "I am the son of the two sacrificed ones" (Ishmael and ʿAbd Allāh). al-Baḥrānī and al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī add al-Riḍā's tradition that the "great sacrifice" points beyond the ram: Abraham's wish to have slain his son by his own hand was answered by the disclosure that al-Ḥusayn would be slaughtered wrongfully — so the great sacrifice is, in this reading, shifted to Karbalāʾ. Ibn Bābawayh (via al-Baḥrānī) reconciles the reports: Ishmael was the true dhabīḥ, and Isaac, longing for the same trial, was named "sacrificed" among the angels for his intention. Every one of these Shīʿī readings is given here as its source gives it, never asserted in the editorial voice. al-Mīzān's unit here is coarse (71–113); its vv. 71–74 were treated in passage 2.