بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful
حمٓ
Ha, Meem.
تَنزِيلُ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلْحَكِيمِ
The [gradual] sending down of the Book is from Allah, the All-mighty, the All-wise.
مَا خَلَقْنَا ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَآ إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَأَجَلٍۢ مُّسَمًّۭى ۚ وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ عَمَّآ أُنذِرُوا۟ مُعْرِضُونَ
We did not create the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them except with consummate wisdom and for a specified term. Yet the faithless are disregardful of what they are warned.
قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُم مَّا تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَرُونِى مَاذَا خَلَقُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ أَمْ لَهُمْ شِرْكٌۭ فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ ۖ ٱئْتُونِى بِكِتَٰبٍۢ مِّن قَبْلِ هَٰذَآ أَوْ أَثَٰرَةٍۢ مِّنْ عِلْمٍ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ
Say, ‘Tell me about those you invoke besides Allah. Show me what [part] of the earth have they created. Do they have any share in the heavens? Bring me a scripture [revealed] before this, or some vestige of [divine] knowledge, if you are truthful.’
وَمَنْ أَضَلُّ مِمَّن يَدْعُوا۟ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ مَن لَّا يَسْتَجِيبُ لَهُۥٓ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ وَهُمْ عَن دُعَآئِهِمْ غَٰفِلُونَ
Who is more astray than him who invokes besides Allah such [entities] as would not respond to him until the Day of Resurrection, and who are oblivious of their invocation?
وَإِذَا حُشِرَ ٱلنَّاسُ كَانُوا۟ لَهُمْ أَعْدَآءًۭ وَكَانُوا۟ بِعِبَادَتِهِمْ كَٰفِرِينَ
When mankind are mustered [on Judgement’s Day] they will be their enemies, and they will disavow their worship.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
The sura opens with the detached letters Ḥā Mīm and the declaration that the Book is sent down from God, the All-mighty, the All-wise, followed by the claim that the heavens, the earth and all between were created only with truth and for a stated term — yet the disbelievers turn away from the warning. Verses 4-6 then challenge the idolaters to produce any credential for their gods, and warn that on the Day of Mustering those very gods will become their enemies.
On the purpose of creation and the Return. Al-Tabatabai frames the whole sura as a warning to deniers of the Return, and reads verse 3 as its keynote: a cosmos made with truth must have a fixed terminus and a purpose, and therefore a reckoning — a world made in vain would contradict divine wisdom. Al-Tabarsi and al-Tusi agree that for a stated term denotes the Day of Resurrection, its timing recorded (al-Tusi and al-Tabarsi: for the angels in the Preserved Tablet) and hidden from the servants, and that creation with truth means creation for worship, command, prohibition, reward and punishment — never idly.
The argument against idolatry. All four Arabic authorities read verse 4 as a structured rational proof. Al-Tabarsi itemizes three demanded proofs — reason (what did they create?), scripture (bring a Book), and reliable transmission (a trace of knowledge) — none of which the idolaters can supply, so their claim collapses. Al-Tusi concurs, glossing athāra min ʿilm as an inherited or surviving remnant of knowledge. Here the Imami sources add a distinctive layer: both al-Qummi and al-Bahrani transmit from Imam al-Baqir that the Book intends the Torah and Gospel and the trace of knowledge intends the knowledge of the legatees of the prophets (ʿilm al-awṣiyāʾ) — rendered here as attributed.
The gods turn enemies. Al-Qummi (echoed verbatim in al-Bahrani) specifies the objects of worship — sun, moon, stars, beasts, trees and stones — and says that at the Mustering these very things become enemies of their worshippers and disown the worship offered them, a reading al-Tabarsi expands by noting that God will make the idols speak to repudiate their devotees. Al-Bahrani and al-Qummi also connect the opening to Surah Fussilat, identifying the addressees as the Quraysh who turned away. The Enlightening Commentary gathers the same themes for an English reader, contrasting God's active role in human life (Creator, Sustainer, Answerer of the distressed) with the utter powerlessness of the so-called deities, who cannot create even a fly.