۞ إِنَّ قَٰرُونَ كَانَ مِن قَوْمِ مُوسَىٰ فَبَغَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ ۖ وَءَاتَيْنَٰهُ مِنَ ٱلْكُنُوزِ مَآ إِنَّ مَفَاتِحَهُۥ لَتَنُوٓأُ بِٱلْعُصْبَةِ أُو۟لِى ٱلْقُوَّةِ إِذْ قَالَ لَهُۥ قَوْمُهُۥ لَا تَفْرَحْ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْفَرِحِينَ
Korah indeed belonged to the people of Moses, but he bullied them. We had given him so much treasures that their chests indeed proved heavy for a band of stalwarts. When his people said to him, ‘Do not boast! Indeed Allah does not like the boasters.
وَٱبْتَغِ فِيمَآ ءَاتَىٰكَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلدَّارَ ٱلْءَاخِرَةَ ۖ وَلَا تَنسَ نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۖ وَأَحْسِن كَمَآ أَحْسَنَ ٱللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ ۖ وَلَا تَبْغِ ٱلْفَسَادَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُفْسِدِينَ
Seek the abode of the Hereafter by means of what Allah has given you, while not forgetting your share of this world. Be good [to others] just as Allah has been good to you, and do not try to cause corruption in the land. Indeed Allah does not like the agents of corruption.’
قَالَ إِنَّمَآ أُوتِيتُهُۥ عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍ عِندِىٓ ۚ أَوَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ قَدْ أَهْلَكَ مِن قَبْلِهِۦ مِنَ ٱلْقُرُونِ مَنْ هُوَ أَشَدُّ مِنْهُ قُوَّةًۭ وَأَكْثَرُ جَمْعًۭا ۚ وَلَا يُسْـَٔلُ عَن ذُنُوبِهِمُ ٱلْمُجْرِمُونَ
He said, ‘I have indeed been given [all] this because of the knowledge that I have.’ Did he not know that Allah had already destroyed before him some of the generations who were more powerful than him and greater in amassing [wealth]? The guilty will not be questioned about their sins.
فَخَرَجَ عَلَىٰ قَوْمِهِۦ فِى زِينَتِهِۦ ۖ قَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ يُرِيدُونَ ٱلْحَيَوٰةَ ٱلدُّنْيَا يَٰلَيْتَ لَنَا مِثْلَ مَآ أُوتِىَ قَٰرُونُ إِنَّهُۥ لَذُو حَظٍّ عَظِيمٍۢ
So he emerged before his people in his finery. Those who desired the life of the world said, ‘We wish we had like what Korah has been given! Indeed he is greatly fortunate.’
وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْعِلْمَ وَيْلَكُمْ ثَوَابُ ٱللَّهِ خَيْرٌۭ لِّمَنْ ءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَٰلِحًۭا وَلَا يُلَقَّىٰهَآ إِلَّا ٱلصَّٰبِرُونَ
Those who were given knowledge said [to them], ‘Woe to you! Allah’s reward is better for someone who has faith and acts righteously, and no one will receive it except the patient.’
فَخَسَفْنَا بِهِۦ وَبِدَارِهِ ٱلْأَرْضَ فَمَا كَانَ لَهُۥ مِن فِئَةٍۢ يَنصُرُونَهُۥ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ ٱلْمُنتَصِرِينَ
So We caused the earth to swallow him and his house, and he had no party that might protect him from Allah, nor could he rescue himself.
وَأَصْبَحَ ٱلَّذِينَ تَمَنَّوْا۟ مَكَانَهُۥ بِٱلْأَمْسِ يَقُولُونَ وَيْكَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَبْسُطُ ٱلرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِۦ وَيَقْدِرُ ۖ لَوْلَآ أَن مَّنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْنَا لَخَسَفَ بِنَا ۖ وَيْكَأَنَّهُۥ لَا يُفْلِحُ ٱلْكَٰفِرُونَ
By dawn those who longed to be in his place the day before were saying, ‘Don’t you see that Allah expands the provision for whomever He wishes of His servants, and tightens it? Had Allah not shown us favour, He might have made the earth swallow us too. Don’t you see that the faithless do not prosper?’
تِلْكَ ٱلدَّارُ ٱلْءَاخِرَةُ نَجْعَلُهَا لِلَّذِينَ لَا يُرِيدُونَ عُلُوًّۭا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَا فَسَادًۭا ۚ وَٱلْعَٰقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
This is the abode of the Hereafter, which We shall grant to those who do not desire to domineer in the earth nor to cause corruption, and the outcome will be in favour of the Godwary.
مَن جَآءَ بِٱلْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُۥ خَيْرٌۭ مِّنْهَا ۖ وَمَن جَآءَ بِٱلسَّيِّئَةِ فَلَا يُجْزَى ٱلَّذِينَ عَمِلُوا۟ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ إِلَّا مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ
Whoever brings virtue shall receive [a reward] better than it, but whoever brings vice—those who commit misdeeds shall not be requited except for what they used to do.
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِى فَرَضَ عَلَيْكَ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ لَرَآدُّكَ إِلَىٰ مَعَادٍۢ ۚ قُل رَّبِّىٓ أَعْلَمُ مَن جَآءَ بِٱلْهُدَىٰ وَمَنْ هُوَ فِى ضَلَٰلٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ
Indeed He who has revealed to you the Quran will surely restore you to the place of return. Say, ‘My Lord knows best him who brings guidance and him who is in manifest error.’
وَمَا كُنتَ تَرْجُوٓا۟ أَن يُلْقَىٰٓ إِلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَٰبُ إِلَّا رَحْمَةًۭ مِّن رَّبِّكَ ۖ فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ ظَهِيرًۭا لِّلْكَٰفِرِينَ
You did not expect that the Book would be delivered to you; but it was a mercy from your Lord. So do not be ever an advocate of the faithless.
وَلَا يَصُدُّنَّكَ عَنْ ءَايَٰتِ ٱللَّهِ بَعْدَ إِذْ أُنزِلَتْ إِلَيْكَ ۖ وَٱدْعُ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ ۖ وَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ
Do not ever let them bar you from Allah’s signs after they have been sent down to you. Invite to your Lord, and never be one of the polytheists.
وَلَا تَدْعُ مَعَ ٱللَّهِ إِلَٰهًا ءَاخَرَ ۘ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ كُلُّ شَىْءٍ هَالِكٌ إِلَّا وَجْهَهُۥ ۚ لَهُ ٱلْحُكْمُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
And do not invoke another god besides Allah; there is no god except Him. Everything is to perish except His Face. All judgement belongs to Him, and to Him you will be brought back.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
Triangulated from: enlightening_commentary, tabatabai_al_mizan, tabarsi_majma_al_bayan, tusi_al_tibyan, bahrani_al_burhan, qummi (all six present).
The sūra closes with the parable of Qārūn (Korah) — a mirror to the Meccans' greed — and a triumphant sealing promise to the Prophet.
Qārūn's transgression (vv.76–82). All sources identify Qārūn as "of Moses' people" (al-Ṭabarsī and al-Baḥrānī, from al-Ṣādiq: his maternal cousin) who "transgressed" through his colossal wealth. The interpretive crux is his boast, "I was only given it because of a knowledge I have." The classical sources offer three glosses — knowledge of the Torah, of alchemy (al-Kalbī's tradition), or of commerce — but al-Mīzān argues decisively (via 39:49 and 40:83) that it means the knowledge of amassing wealth, and that this is "a common delusion among the worldly": crediting one's fortune to one's own genius rather than God's gift. On "the guilty are not questioned about their sins," al-Ṭabarsī reads it as entering the Fire without reckoning, while al-Mīzān reads it as God's not needing to interrogate them (unlike human judges). al-Ṭūsī uniquely pauses to defend a doctrine: since "God gives no unlawful wealth," Qārūn's wealth may have been lawful, and he was punished for withholding its due and his insolence, not for gaining it.
The swallowing (vv.81–82). Qummī and al-Baḥrānī preserve the fullest narrative — the wilderness after the Exodus, Qārūn's refusal to repent, the ashes poured on Moses, and the haunting refrain "O son of Lāwī, add nothing to your words," culminating in God's gentle rebuke of Moses himself ("had he called Me, I would have answered") — a rebuke so weighty that the narration carries straight into Moses' own humble death, digging a stranger's grave on Sinai. al-Ṭabarsī and al-Ṭūsī give the parallel al-Suddī tradition of the bribed harlot who recants.
The abode of the Hereafter (vv.83–84). All sources read "those who seek not exaltation nor corruption" morally. al-Ṭabarsī and al-Baḥrānī both cite ʿAlī walking the markets reciting it, and the striking saying that "a man pleased by the strap of his sandal" may fall under it. Qummī and al-Baḥrānī preserve al-Ṣādiq's tearful "the [false] hopes are gone at this verse" and the more esoteric Saʿd b. Ṭarīf narration ("we are the House… we are the outcome"), reported as-attributed. al-Mīzān notes seeking exaltation is one instance of seeking corruption, singled out for emphasis.
The sealing promise (vv.85–88). "The One who ordained the Qurʾan will restore you to a maʿād." This is the passage's second great interpretive fork. The classical majority (al-Ṭabarsī, al-Ṭūsī, and al-Mīzān) read maʿād as Mecca — the triumphant return, which al-Mīzān shows is the sūra's implicit promise (Moses→Torah→inheritance) now made explicit for Muḥammad. The Imāmī tradition in Qummī and al-Baḥrānī reads it as the Rajʿa (the eschatological Return): al-Bāqir praising Jābir for knowing this taʾwīl, ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn ("your Prophet, ʿAlī and the Imams return to you"), al-Ṣādiq ("al-Ḥusayn first to return"). Tellingly, al-Mīzān cites these same narrations but classes them as baṭn (inner sense), not tafsīr. The sūra ends on pure tawḥīd — "Everything is perishing except His Face" — where al-Mīzān gives its richest treatment (the Face = His noble attributes and the aspect by which He is approached, not bare annihilation of all but the Essence), while Qummī and al-Baḥrānī preserve al-Bāqir's readings, "except His religion" and "we are the Face by which God is approached" — the two registers, metaphysical and Imāmī, closing the sūra in counterpoint.