بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful
تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ الْفُرْقَانَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ لِيَكُونَ لِلْعَالَمِينَ نَذِيرًا
Blessed is He who sent down the Criterion to His servant that he may be a warner to all the nations.
الَّذِي لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَلَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَدًا وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ شَرِيكٌ فِي الْمُلْكِ وَخَلَقَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ فَقَدَّرَهُ تَقْدِيرًا
He, to whom belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth, and who did not take any offspring, nor has He any partner in sovereignty, and He created everything and determined it in a precise measure.
وَاتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِهِ آلِهَةً لَّا يَخْلُقُونَ شَيْئًا وَهُمْ يُخْلَقُونَ وَلَا يَمْلِكُونَ لِأَنفُسِهِمْ ضَرًّا وَلَا نَفْعًا وَلَا يَمْلِكُونَ مَوْتًا وَلَا حَيَاةً وَلَا نُشُورًا
Yet they have taken gods besides Him who create nothing and have themselves been created, and who have no control over their own harm or benefit and have no control over [their own] death, life, or resurrection.
وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِنْ هَـٰذَا إِلَّا إِفْكٌ افْتَرَاهُ وَأَعَانَهُ عَلَيْهِ قَوْمٌ آخَرُونَ ۖ فَقَدْ جَاءُوا ظُلْمًا وَزُورًا
The faithless say, ‘This is nothing but a lie that he has fabricated, and other people have abetted him in it.’ Thus they have certainly come out with wrongdoing and falsehood.
وَقَالُوا أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ اكْتَتَبَهَا فَهِيَ تُمْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا
They say, ‘He has taken down myths of the ancients, and they are dictated to him morning and evening.’
قُلْ أَنزَلَهُ الَّذِي يَعْلَمُ السِّرَّ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا
Say, ‘It has been sent down by Him who knows the hidden in the heavens and the earth. Indeed He is all-forgiving, all-merciful.’
وَقَالُوا مَالِ هَـٰذَا الرَّسُولِ يَأْكُلُ الطَّعَامَ وَيَمْشِي فِي الْأَسْوَاقِ ۙ لَوْلَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مَلَكٌ فَيَكُونَ مَعَهُ نَذِيرًا
And they say, ‘What sort of apostle is this who eats food and walks in the marketplaces? Why has not an angel been sent down to him so as to be a warner along with him?’
أَوْ يُلْقَىٰ إِلَيْهِ كَنزٌ أَوْ تَكُونُ لَهُ جَنَّةٌ يَأْكُلُ مِنْهَا ۚ وَقَالَ الظَّالِمُونَ إِن تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا رَجُلًا مَّسْحُورًا
Or, ‘[Why is not] a treasure thrown to him, or [why does] he [not] have a garden from which he may eat?’ And the wrongdoers say, ‘You are just following a bewitched man.’
انظُرْ كَيْفَ ضَرَبُوا لَكَ الْأَمْثَالَ فَضَلُّوا فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ سَبِيلًا
Look, how they coin epithets for you; so they go astray, and cannot find the way.
تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي إِن شَاءَ جَعَلَ لَكَ خَيْرًا مِّن ذَٰلِكَ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ وَيَجْعَل لَّكَ قُصُورًا
Blessed is He who will grant you better than that if He wishes—gardens with streams running in them, and He will make for you palaces.
بَلْ كَذَّبُوا بِالسَّاعَةِ ۖ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِمَن كَذَّبَ بِالسَّاعَةِ سَعِيرًا
Indeed, they deny the Hour, and We have prepared a Blaze for those who deny the Hour.
إِذَا رَأَتْهُم مِّن مَّكَانٍ بَعِيدٍ سَمِعُوا لَهَا تَغَيُّظًا وَزَفِيرًا
When it sights them from a distant place, they will hear it raging and roaring.
وَإِذَا أُلْقُوا مِنْهَا مَكَانًا ضَيِّقًا مُّقَرَّنِينَ دَعَوْا هُنَالِكَ ثُبُورًا
And when they are cast into a narrow place in it, bound together [in chains], they will pray for [their own] annihilation.
لَّا تَدْعُوا الْيَوْمَ ثُبُورًا وَاحِدًا وَادْعُوا ثُبُورًا كَثِيرًا
[They will be told:] ‘Do not pray for a single annihilation today, but pray for many annihilations!’
قُلْ أَذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ أَمْ جَنَّةُ الْخُلْدِ الَّتِي وُعِدَ الْمُتَّقُونَ ۚ كَانَتْ لَهُمْ جَزَاءً وَمَصِيرًا
Say, ‘Is that better, or the everlasting paradise promised to the Godwary, which will be their reward and destination?’
لَّهُمْ فِيهَا مَا يَشَاءُونَ خَالِدِينَ ۚ كَانَ عَلَىٰ رَبِّكَ وَعْدًا مَّسْئُولًا
There they will have whatever they wish, abiding [forever]—a promise [much] besought, [binding] on your Lord.
وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ فَيَقُولُ أَأَنتُمْ أَضْلَلْتُمْ عِبَادِي هَـٰؤُلَاءِ أَمْ هُمْ ضَلُّوا السَّبِيلَ
On the day that He will muster them and those whom they worship besides Allah, He will say, ‘Was it you who led astray these servants of Mine, or did they themselves stray from the way?’
قَالُوا سُبْحَانَكَ مَا كَانَ يَنبَغِي لَنَا أَن نَّتَّخِذَ مِن دُونِكَ مِنْ أَوْلِيَاءَ وَلَـٰكِن مَّتَّعْتَهُمْ وَآبَاءَهُمْ حَتَّىٰ نَسُوا الذِّكْرَ وَكَانُوا قَوْمًا بُورًا
They will say, ‘Immaculate are You! It does not behoove us to take any wali in Your stead! But You provided for them and their fathers until they forgot the Reminder, and they were a ruined lot.’
فَقَدْ كَذَّبُوكُم بِمَا تَقُولُونَ فَمَا تَسْتَطِيعُونَ صَرْفًا وَلَا نَصْرًا ۚ وَمَن يَظْلِم مِّنكُمْ نُذِقْهُ عَذَابًا كَبِيرًا
So they will certainly impugn you in what you say, and you will neither be able to circumvent [punishment] nor find help, and whoever of you does wrong, We shall make him taste a terrible punishment.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ إِلَّا إِنَّهُمْ لَيَأْكُلُونَ الطَّعَامَ وَيَمْشُونَ فِي الْأَسْوَاقِ ۗ وَجَعَلْنَا بَعْضَكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ فِتْنَةً أَتَصْبِرُونَ ۗ وَكَانَ رَبُّكَ بَصِيرًا
We did not send any apostles before you but that they indeed ate food and walked in marketplaces. We have made you a [means of] test for one another, [to see] if you will be patient and steadfast, and your Lord is all-seeing.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
Triangulated across five present sources: Ṭabarsī (Majmaʿ al-Bayān) [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan], al-Qummī [qummi], al-Ṭūsī (al-Tibyān) [tusi_al_tibyan], al-Baḥrānī (al-Burhān) [bahrani_al_burhan], and al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī (al-Mīzān) [tabatabai_al_mizan]. None is silent.
Human-review flags: al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan] (confidence 0.85) — its two coarse units (vv. 1–3 and 4–20) carry long philosophical polemics that I condensed faithfully in al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī's own voice (the fiṭra-reading of "all-forgiving, all-merciful," the rebuttal of a predestinarian reading of "a ruined people," and the absolute-will discussion at v. 16). The full fetched Arabic is retained in
original_ar.
What the passage says. It opens with tabāraka — God sends down the Furqān ("Criterion") on His servant as a warner to all the worlds (1), the sole Sovereign who took no child and has no partner and who created and precisely measured everything (2), against false gods who create nothing and control no harm, benefit, death, life, or resurrection (3). The disbelievers charge the Qurʾān is "a fabrication" abetted by others (4) and "myths of the ancients" dictated morning and evening (5); God answers that it is sent by "Him who knows the secret" (6). They then mock the Messenger who "eats food and walks in the markets," demanding an angel, a treasure, or a garden (7–8), are told they have only gone astray (9), and God affirms He could grant His servant better — gardens and palaces (10). The root cause is exposed: they deny the Hour, for which a Blaze is prepared (11) that rages from afar (12) as they are cast bound into a narrow place praying for annihilation (13–14) — set against the everlasting Garden promised the God-wary (15–16). Finally, on the Day of mustering, the false objects of worship disown their worshippers (17–18), leaving them without averting or help (19), and God reminds that all prior messengers ate food and walked the markets, mankind being a mutual trial (20).
How the present sources read it. On al-Furqān, all converge on "that which separates truth from falsehood," and al-Baḥrānī [bahrani_al_burhan] and al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī [tabatabai_al_mizan] both carry al-Kulaynī's ḥadīth from al-Ṣādiq distinguishing the Qurʾān (the whole Book) from the Furqān (al-muḥkam, obligatory to act upon); al-Baḥrānī adds Ibn Salām traditions tying the name to the Qurʾān's piecemeal descent. Ṭabarsī [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] and al-Ṭūsī [tusi_al_tibyan] derive tabāraka both from baraka (settling/permanence, via the bird's burūk) and barakāt (abundant good, citing Ibn ʿAbbās and al-Ḥasan). On the alleged human "helpers" (4), Ṭabarsī, al-Ṭūsī, al-Qummī and al-Baḥrānī all name People-of-the-Book figures — Ṭabarsī's triad ʿAddās/Yasār/Jabr matching the standard tradition, while al-Qummī and al-Baḥrānī (via Abū l-Jārūd from al-Bāqir) list Abū Fukayha, Ḥabr, ʿAddās and ʿĀbis, and ascribe "myths of the ancients" to al-NaḌr b. al-Ḥārith.
A clear divergence appears on v. 6: most exegetes (reported by al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī) read "all-forgiving, all-merciful" as justifying God's respite of the deniers, but al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī [tabatabai_al_mizan] rejects this and argues it justifies the sending of the Book itself, answering the fiṭra's innate plea for felicity — a reading distinctive to al-Mīzān. On the "eats food / walks in markets" objection (7), al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī uniquely frames it through the idolaters' premise that only angels, not matter-bound humans, can connect with the unseen, and reads each demand (angel→treasure→garden) as a descending tanazzul; Ṭabarsī and al-Ṭūsī more plainly note the like-kind is fitter to guide its like, and (with the Enlightening Commentary) that walking the markets deepens the Prophet's bond with people.
The Shīʿī narrative layer is carried only by al-Qummī [qummi] and al-Baḥrānī [bahrani_al_burhan]: Gabriel's reported descent of v. 8–9 "concerning the Family of Muḥammad and their right," glossing al-sabīl ("the way") as the wilāya of ʿAlī (Jābir from al-Bāqir; also Abū Ḥamza al-Thumālī). Likewise both gloss "the Hour" (11) as ʿAlī's wilāya via the twelve-hours/twelve-Imams ḥadīth — a layer absent from Ṭabarsī, al-Ṭūsī and al-Mīzān, which read v. 11 straightforwardly of the resurrection. On the Fire "sighting" them (12), al-Qummī, al-Baḥrānī, Ṭabarsī and al-Ṭūsī all transmit al-Ṣādiq's "a journey of a year," and Ṭabarsī, al-Ṭūsī and al-Mīzān share the Prophet's "peg in the wall" image for the narrow place (13). al-Baḥrānī alone supplies the haunting Zayd-b.-ʿAlī narration that the "many annihilations" (14) are the cry of followers of a tyrant imam, and the Kisāʾ-linked tradition that "We made some of you a trial" (20) was revealed when the Prophet wept over his Household's pledge of patience.
Sources present: tabarsi_majma_al_bayan, qummi, tusi_al_tibyan, bahrani_al_burhan, tabatabai_al_mizan; silent: none.