فَمَآ ءَامَنَ لِمُوسَىٰٓ إِلَّا ذُرِّيَّةٌۭ مِّن قَوْمِهِۦ عَلَىٰ خَوْفٍۢ مِّن فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلَإِي۟هِمْ أَن يَفْتِنَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ لَعَالٍۢ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَإِنَّهُۥ لَمِنَ ٱلْمُسْرِفِينَ
But none believed in Moses except some youths from among his people, for the fear of Pharaoh and his elite that he would persecute them. For Pharaoh was indeed a tyrant in the land, and indeed he was an unrestrained [despot].
وَقَالَ مُوسَىٰ يَٰقَوْمِ إِن كُنتُمْ ءَامَنتُم بِٱللَّهِ فَعَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلُوٓا۟ إِن كُنتُم مُّسْلِمِينَ
And Moses said, ‘O my people! If you have faith in Allah, put your trust in Him, if you have submitted [to Him].’
فَقَالُوا۟ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا رَبَّنَا لَا تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةًۭ لِّلْقَوْمِ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ
Whereat they said, ‘In Allah we have put our trust.’ ‘Our Lord! Do not make us a [means of] test for the wrongdoing lot,
وَنَجِّنَا بِرَحْمَتِكَ مِنَ ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ
and deliver us by Your mercy from the faithless lot.’
وَأَوْحَيْنَآ إِلَىٰ مُوسَىٰ وَأَخِيهِ أَن تَبَوَّءَا لِقَوْمِكُمَا بِمِصْرَ بُيُوتًۭا وَٱجْعَلُوا۟ بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةًۭ وَأَقِيمُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
We revealed to Moses and his brother [saying], ‘Settle your people in the city, and let your houses face each other, and maintain the prayer, and give good news to the faithful.’
وَقَالَ مُوسَىٰ رَبَّنَآ إِنَّكَ ءَاتَيْتَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلَأَهُۥ زِينَةًۭ وَأَمْوَٰلًۭا فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا رَبَّنَا لِيُضِلُّوا۟ عَن سَبِيلِكَ ۖ رَبَّنَا ٱطْمِسْ عَلَىٰٓ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ وَٱشْدُدْ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ فَلَا يُؤْمِنُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يَرَوُا۟ ٱلْعَذَابَ ٱلْأَلِيمَ
Moses said, ‘Our Lord! You have given Pharaoh and his elite glamour and wealth in the life of this world, our Lord, that they may lead [people] astray from Your way! Our Lord! Blot out their wealth and harden their hearts so that they do not believe until they sight the painful punishment.’
قَالَ قَدْ أُجِيبَت دَّعْوَتُكُمَا فَٱسْتَقِيمَا وَلَا تَتَّبِعَآنِّ سَبِيلَ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
Said He, ‘Your supplication has already been granted. So be steadfast, and do not follow the way of those who do not know.’
۞ وَجَٰوَزْنَا بِبَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ ٱلْبَحْرَ فَأَتْبَعَهُمْ فِرْعَوْنُ وَجُنُودُهُۥ بَغْيًۭا وَعَدْوًا ۖ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَدْرَكَهُ ٱلْغَرَقُ قَالَ ءَامَنتُ أَنَّهُۥ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِىٓ ءَامَنَتْ بِهِۦ بَنُوٓا۟ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ وَأَنَا۠ مِنَ ٱلْمُسْلِمِينَ
We carried the Children of Israel across the sea, whereat Pharaoh and his troops pursued them, out of defiance and aggression. When overtaken by drowning, he called out, ‘I believe that there is no god except Him in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am one of those who submit [to Him]!’
ءَآلْـَٰٔنَ وَقَدْ عَصَيْتَ قَبْلُ وَكُنتَ مِنَ ٱلْمُفْسِدِينَ
[He was told,] ‘What! Now? When you have been disobedient heretofore and were among the agents of corruption?!
فَٱلْيَوْمَ نُنَجِّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ لِتَكُونَ لِمَنْ خَلْفَكَ ءَايَةًۭ ۚ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًۭا مِّنَ ٱلنَّاسِ عَنْ ءَايَٰتِنَا لَغَٰفِلُونَ
So today We shall deliver your body so that you may be a sign for those who come after you.’ Indeed many of the people are oblivious to Our signs.
وَلَقَدْ بَوَّأْنَا بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ مُبَوَّأَ صِدْقٍۢ وَرَزَقْنَٰهُم مِّنَ ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتِ فَمَا ٱخْتَلَفُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ جَآءَهُمُ ٱلْعِلْمُ ۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يَقْضِى بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ فِيمَا كَانُوا۟ فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ
Certainly We settled the Children of Israel in a worthy settlement and We provided them with all the good things, and they did not differ until [after] the knowledge had come to them. Your Lord will indeed judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that about which they used to differ.
فَإِن كُنتَ فِى شَكٍّۢ مِّمَّآ أَنزَلْنَآ إِلَيْكَ فَسْـَٔلِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَقْرَءُونَ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ مِن قَبْلِكَ ۚ لَقَدْ جَآءَكَ ٱلْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْمُمْتَرِينَ
So if you are in doubt about what We have sent down to you, ask those who read the Book [revealed] before you. The truth has certainly come to you from your Lord; so do not be among the skeptics.
وَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِ ٱللَّهِ فَتَكُونَ مِنَ ٱلْخَٰسِرِينَ
And do not be of those who deny the signs of Allah, [for] then you shall be among the losers.
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِمْ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
Indeed those against whom your Lord’s judgement has become due will not have faith,
وَلَوْ جَآءَتْهُمْ كُلُّ ءَايَةٍ حَتَّىٰ يَرَوُا۟ ٱلْعَذَابَ ٱلْأَلِيمَ
even though every sign were to come to them, until they sight the painful punishment.
فَلَوْلَا كَانَتْ قَرْيَةٌ ءَامَنَتْ فَنَفَعَهَآ إِيمَٰنُهَآ إِلَّا قَوْمَ يُونُسَ لَمَّآ ءَامَنُوا۟ كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُمْ عَذَابَ ٱلْخِزْىِ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَمَتَّعْنَٰهُمْ إِلَىٰ حِينٍۢ
Why has there not been any town that might believe, so that its belief might benefit it, except the people of Jonah? When they believed, We removed from them the punishment of disgrace in the life of this world, and We provided for them for a while.
وَلَوْ شَآءَ رَبُّكَ لَءَامَنَ مَن فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ كُلُّهُمْ جَمِيعًا ۚ أَفَأَنتَ تُكْرِهُ ٱلنَّاسَ حَتَّىٰ يَكُونُوا۟ مُؤْمِنِينَ
Had your Lord wished, all those who are on earth would have believed. Would you then force people until they become faithful?
وَمَا كَانَ لِنَفْسٍ أَن تُؤْمِنَ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَيَجْعَلُ ٱلرِّجْسَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ
No soul may have faith except by Allah’s leave, and He lays defilement on those who do not exercise their reason.
قُلِ ٱنظُرُوا۟ مَاذَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ وَمَا تُغْنِى ٱلْءَايَٰتُ وَٱلنُّذُرُ عَن قَوْمٍۢ لَّا يُؤْمِنُونَ
Say, ‘Observe what is in the heavens and the earth.’ But neither signs nor warnings avail a people who have no faith.
فَهَلْ يَنتَظِرُونَ إِلَّا مِثْلَ أَيَّامِ ٱلَّذِينَ خَلَوْا۟ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ قُلْ فَٱنتَظِرُوٓا۟ إِنِّى مَعَكُم مِّنَ ٱلْمُنتَظِرِينَ
Do they await anything except the like of the days of those who passed away before them? Say, ‘Then wait! I too am waiting along with you.’
ثُمَّ نُنَجِّى رُسُلَنَا وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ حَقًّا عَلَيْنَا نُنجِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
Then We shall deliver Our apostles and those who have faith. Thus, it is a must for Us to deliver the faithful.
قُلْ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِن كُنتُمْ فِى شَكٍّۢ مِّن دِينِى فَلَآ أَعْبُدُ ٱلَّذِينَ تَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ وَلَٰكِنْ أَعْبُدُ ٱللَّهَ ٱلَّذِى يَتَوَفَّىٰكُمْ ۖ وَأُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
Say, ‘O people! if you are in doubt about my religion, then [know that] I do not worship those whom you worship besides Allah. Rather, I worship only Allah, who causes you to die, and I have been commanded to be among the faithful,
وَأَنْ أَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًۭا وَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ
and that: ‘‘Dedicate yourself to the religion, as a Hanif, and never be one of the polytheists.
وَلَا تَدْعُ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا يَنفَعُكَ وَلَا يَضُرُّكَ ۖ فَإِن فَعَلْتَ فَإِنَّكَ إِذًۭا مِّنَ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ
Nor invoke besides Allah that which neither benefits you nor can do you any harm. For if you do so, then you will indeed be among the wrongdoers.’’ ’
وَإِن يَمْسَسْكَ ٱللَّهُ بِضُرٍّۢ فَلَا كَاشِفَ لَهُۥٓ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ وَإِن يُرِدْكَ بِخَيْرٍۢ فَلَا رَآدَّ لِفَضْلِهِۦ ۚ يُصِيبُ بِهِۦ مَن يَشَآءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِۦ ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ
Should Allah visit you with some distress, there is no one to remove it except Him; and should He desire any good for you, none can stand in the way of His grace: He grants it to whomever He wishes of His servants, and He is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful.
قُلْ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ قَدْ جَآءَكُمُ ٱلْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكُمْ ۖ فَمَنِ ٱهْتَدَىٰ فَإِنَّمَا يَهْتَدِى لِنَفْسِهِۦ ۖ وَمَن ضَلَّ فَإِنَّمَا يَضِلُّ عَلَيْهَا ۖ وَمَآ أَنَا۠ عَلَيْكُم بِوَكِيلٍۢ
Say, ‘O mankind! The truth has already come to you from your Lord. Whoever is guided, is guided only for [the good of] his own soul, and whoever goes astray, goes astray only to its detriment, and it is not my business to watch over you.’
وَٱتَّبِعْ مَا يُوحَىٰٓ إِلَيْكَ وَٱصْبِرْ حَتَّىٰ يَحْكُمَ ٱللَّهُ ۚ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ ٱلْحَٰكِمِينَ
And follow that which is revealed to you, and be patient until Allah issues [His] judgement, and He is the best of judges.
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.83. The four Arabic renderings are my own translations of the fetched Arabic.
The sūra's final movement completes the Moses narrative and closes with a direct address to mankind. Only "a progeny" of Moses's people believe, in fear of Pharaoh (v.83); Moses bids them trust God, and they pray not to be "a trial for the wrongdoing people" (vv.84–86). They are commanded to make their houses a qibla and pray (v.87); Moses prays against Pharaoh's wealth-fed misguidance and is answered, "be upright" (vv.88–89). Pharaoh drowns, his death-bed faith rejected — "Now?" — his body preserved "as a sign" (vv.90–92); the Children of Israel are settled "in a sure abode" but later differ "after knowledge" (v.93). Then the Prophet is told, "if you are in doubt… ask those who read the Book before you" (vv.94–95); the beliers "will not believe… until they see the punishment" (vv.96–97); Yūnus's people alone believed in time and were spared (v.98); faith is only "by God's leave" (vv.99–100); "look at what is in the heavens and the earth" (v.101); wait for the judgement (vv.102–103); and the closing charge: worship God alone, follow the revelation, "be patient until God judges" (vv.104–109).
On who believed in Moses (v.83) Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī catalogue the views (Coptic-fathered children, Pharaoh's household believers, a group taught sorcery, or the weak of the Israelites), while Ṭabāṭabāʾī argues at length that "his people" is Moses's and the "progeny" the weak of the Children of Israel — the strong nobles being too invested in their standing to profess faith — reading "their chiefs" as the Israelite chiefs the weak feared. Al-Qummī and al-Burhān supply the framing Ṣādiq/Bāqir report: the Copts said "had these any honour with God we would not rule them," and on "do not make us a trial" (v.85) both, with al-Mīzān, gloss it "do not give them power over us so You try them by us."
On the houses as a qibla (v.87) the discursive commentaries (Ṭabarsī, Ṭūsī, and al-Mīzān) read it as either praying in the houses out of fear of Pharaoh, or facing them for congregation. Here the Imāmī narration turns emphatically to taʾwīl: al-Qummī glosses the qibla as Jerusalem and, with al-Burhān, reports al-Kāẓim's "they were commanded to pray in their houses" — and al-Burhān builds on it al-Riḍā's celebrated argument (in al-Maʾmūn's session) that this verse is the Qurʾānic ground of "you are to me as Aaron was to Moses," the mosque being forbidden to all in major impurity save the Prophet's family, i.e. ʿAlī.
On Pharaoh's drowning and death-bed faith (vv.90–92) all sources agree his compelled faith was rejected — al-Mīzān and al-Burhān both anchoring the principle "faith at the sight of the might is not accepted" (al-Riḍā, citing Ghāfir 84–85). The vivid Gabriel-tradition ("I put mud in his mouth… fearing lest mercy reach him") is shared by Ṭabarsī, al-Qummī and al-Burhān. On "We save you in your body" (v.92), Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī give the plain reason (the Israelites doubted his death, so his corpse was displayed), while Ṭabāṭabāʾī turns the phrase into a major philosophical proof that "the souls are beyond the bodies, and names are for souls" — the "saving" attaching to the body only by the soul-body union. Al-Burhān adds al-Riḍā's detail of the iron-clad body improbably raised on high ground as the "sign."
On "if you are in doubt" (v.94) the discursive reading is unanimous that the Prophet did not doubt: Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī list the constructions (address-to-the-hearer, the "if you are my son…" form, al-Zajjāj's in = mā), all citing the Prophet's "I neither doubted nor asked" — a saying al-Mīzān also carries (from Qatāda) alongside al-Hādī's precise answer (the address is to the Prophet, framed "to be fair to them," as in the mubāhala verse). Ṭabāṭabāʾī develops the deepest reading: the verse cites the People of the Book as a second, converging proof, and notes the sūra pointedly omits stories (Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, the Messiah) the People of the Book would dispute. But al-Qummī and al-Burhān press the distinctively Imāmī taʾwīl: the "doubt" arose in the Prophet's breast at the greatness of what was revealed about ʿAlī on the Night of Ascent, and "those who read the Book before you" are the prophets — al-Burhān adding the report that the messengers were sent "upon your walāya and the walāya of ʿAlī." The same sources read "the signs of God" (v.95) as the awṣiyāʾ, and "those against whom the word is realised" (v.96) as the deniers of ʿAlī's walāya.
On Yūnus's people (v.98) all sources treat this as the sole town whose faith, before the punishment fully fell, profited it. Ṭabarsī, al-Qummī and al-Burhān all carry the long Yūnus narrative — the scholar Rūbīl versus the worshipper (Malīkhā/Tanūkhā), the people's mass repentance in the open, the diverting of the descended punishment onto the mountains (near Mosul), the flight, the fish, and Qārūn — al-Burhān giving the fullest version (the Abū ʿUbayda ḥadīth) with its striking moral that "the wisdom God gave with piety is better than asceticism and worship without knowledge." Al-Mīzān and al-Burhān both draw the theological point (via al-Bāqir) that God "made the decreed punishment a mercy" for their repentance, al-Mīzān adding ʿAlī's maxim that "supplication repels the decree."
On faith "by God's leave" (vv.99–100) the discursive sources read "had your Lord willed…" as a proof of God's power to compel and a consolation to the Prophet, Ṭūsī drawing the anti-Determinist conclusion that God's will is an act, not eternal. Al-Burhān's al-Riḍā tradition supplies the occasion (the Muslims urging the Prophet to compel Islam) and the precise gloss that "God's leave is His command… and His constraining [only] at the lifting of the charge." On "the abomination (rijs)" (v.100), al-Burhān and al-Mīzān converge on the Ṣādiq's reading "the rijs is doubt — and we never doubt about our religion."
On the closing verses (vv.101–109) all sources read "look at what is in the heavens and the earth" as the call to reflect, and "the signs and warners avail not a people who do not believe" — al-Qummī and al-Burhān glossing "the signs" as the Imāms/House of Muḥammad and "the warners" as the prophets, and both attaching the Isrāʾ-tradition (the caravan sign, the raising-up of Syria) to it. On "thus… We save the believers" (v.103), Ṭabarsī and al-Burhān both cite the Ṣādiq's use of it to testify that "whoever dies upon this affair is of the people of the Garden," and Ṭabāṭabāʾī notes the verse's hint that the Prophet would not witness the final judgement. The sūra seals — as al-Mīzān observes is the pivot of its whole exposition — on God's judgement: "follow what is revealed to you, and be patient until God judges, and He is the best of judges."