بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَجَعَلَ ٱلظُّلُمَٰتِ وَٱلنُّورَ ۖ ثُمَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ بِرَبِّهِمْ يَعْدِلُونَ
All praise belongs to Allah who created the heavens and the earth and made the darkness and the light. Yet the faithless equate [others] with their Lord.
هُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن طِينٍۢ ثُمَّ قَضَىٰٓ أَجَلًۭا ۖ وَأَجَلٌۭ مُّسَمًّى عِندَهُۥ ۖ ثُمَّ أَنتُمْ تَمْتَرُونَ
It is He who created you from clay, then ordained the term [of your life]—the specified term is with Him—and yet you are in doubt.
وَهُوَ ٱللَّهُ فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَفِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ يَعْلَمُ سِرَّكُمْ وَجَهْرَكُمْ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَكْسِبُونَ
He is Allah in the heavens and on the earth: He knows your secret and your overt [matters], and He knows what you earn.
وَمَا تَأْتِيهِم مِّنْ ءَايَةٍۢ مِّنْ ءَايَٰتِ رَبِّهِمْ إِلَّا كَانُوا۟ عَنْهَا مُعْرِضِينَ
There did not come to them any sign from among the signs of their Lord, but that they used to disregard it.
فَقَدْ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِٱلْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَآءَهُمْ ۖ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِيهِمْ أَنۢبَٰٓؤُا۟ مَا كَانُوا۟ بِهِۦ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ
They have certainly denied the truth when it came to them, but soon there will come to them the news of what they have been deriding.
أَلَمْ يَرَوْا۟ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن قَرْنٍۢ مَّكَّنَّٰهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَا لَمْ نُمَكِّن لَّكُمْ وَأَرْسَلْنَا ٱلسَّمَآءَ عَلَيْهِم مِّدْرَارًۭا وَجَعَلْنَا ٱلْأَنْهَٰرَ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهِمْ فَأَهْلَكْنَٰهُم بِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَأَنشَأْنَا مِنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ قَرْنًا ءَاخَرِينَ
Have they not regarded how many a generation We have destroyed before them whom We had granted power in the land in respects that We did not grant you, and We sent abundant rains for them from the sky and made streams run for them? Then We destroyed them for their sins, and brought forth another generation after them.
وَلَوْ نَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ كِتَٰبًۭا فِى قِرْطَاسٍۢ فَلَمَسُوهُ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ لَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓا۟ إِنْ هَٰذَآ إِلَّا سِحْرٌۭ مُّبِينٌۭ
Had We sent down to you a Book on paper so they could touch it with their [own] hands, [still] the faithless would have said, ‘This is nothing but plain magic.’
وَقَالُوا۟ لَوْلَآ أُنزِلَ عَلَيْهِ مَلَكٌۭ ۖ وَلَوْ أَنزَلْنَا مَلَكًۭا لَّقُضِىَ ٱلْأَمْرُ ثُمَّ لَا يُنظَرُونَ
They say, ‘Why has not an angel been sent down to him?’ Were We to send down an angel, the matter would surely be decided, and then they would not be granted any respite.
وَلَوْ جَعَلْنَٰهُ مَلَكًۭا لَّجَعَلْنَٰهُ رَجُلًۭا وَلَلَبَسْنَا عَلَيْهِم مَّا يَلْبِسُونَ
Had We made him an angel, We would have surely made him a man, and We would have surely confounded them just as they confound [the truth now].
وَلَقَدِ ٱسْتُهْزِئَ بِرُسُلٍۢ مِّن قَبْلِكَ فَحَاقَ بِٱلَّذِينَ سَخِرُوا۟ مِنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا۟ بِهِۦ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ
Apostles were certainly derided before you. Then those who ridiculed them were besieged by what they used to deride.
قُلْ سِيرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ ٱنظُرُوا۟ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَٰقِبَةُ ٱلْمُكَذِّبِينَ
Say, ‘Travel over the land, and then observe how was the fate of the deniers.’
قُل لِّمَن مَّا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ قُل لِّلَّهِ ۚ كَتَبَ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِ ٱلرَّحْمَةَ ۚ لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ ۚ ٱلَّذِينَ خَسِرُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَهُمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
Say, ‘To whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth?’ Say, ‘To Allah. He has made mercy incumbent upon Himself. He will surely gather you on the Day of Resurrection, in which there is no doubt. Those who have ruined their souls will not have faith.’
۞ وَلَهُۥ مَا سَكَنَ فِى ٱلَّيْلِ وَٱلنَّهَارِ ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ
To Him belongs whatever abides in the night and the day, and He is the All-hearing, the All-knowing.
قُلْ أَغَيْرَ ٱللَّهِ أَتَّخِذُ وَلِيًّۭا فَاطِرِ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَهُوَ يُطْعِمُ وَلَا يُطْعَمُ ۗ قُلْ إِنِّىٓ أُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ أَوَّلَ مَنْ أَسْلَمَ ۖ وَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ
Say, ‘Shall I take for guardian [anyone] other than Allah, the originator of the heavens and the earth, who feeds and is not fed?’ Say, ‘I have been commanded to be the first of those who submit [to Allah], and [told,] “Never be one of the polytheists.” ’
قُلْ إِنِّىٓ أَخَافُ إِنْ عَصَيْتُ رَبِّى عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍۢ
Say, ‘Indeed, should I disobey my Lord, I fear the punishment of a tremendous day.’
مَّن يُصْرَفْ عَنْهُ يَوْمَئِذٍۢ فَقَدْ رَحِمَهُۥ ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ ٱلْفَوْزُ ٱلْمُبِينُ
Whoever is spared of it on that day, He has certainly been merciful to him, and that is manifest success.
وَإِن يَمْسَسْكَ ٱللَّهُ بِضُرٍّۢ فَلَا كَاشِفَ لَهُۥٓ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ وَإِن يَمْسَسْكَ بِخَيْرٍۢ فَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدِيرٌۭ
Should Allah visit you with some distress there is no one to remove it except Him; and should He bring you some good, then He has power over all things.
وَهُوَ ٱلْقَاهِرُ فَوْقَ عِبَادِهِۦ ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلْحَكِيمُ ٱلْخَبِيرُ
And He is the All-dominant over His servants, and He is the All-wise, the All-aware.
قُلْ أَىُّ شَىْءٍ أَكْبَرُ شَهَٰدَةًۭ ۖ قُلِ ٱللَّهُ ۖ شَهِيدٌۢ بَيْنِى وَبَيْنَكُمْ ۚ وَأُوحِىَ إِلَىَّ هَٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانُ لِأُنذِرَكُم بِهِۦ وَمَنۢ بَلَغَ ۚ أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَشْهَدُونَ أَنَّ مَعَ ٱللَّهِ ءَالِهَةً أُخْرَىٰ ۚ قُل لَّآ أَشْهَدُ ۚ قُلْ إِنَّمَا هُوَ إِلَٰهٌۭ وَٰحِدٌۭ وَإِنَّنِى بَرِىٓءٌۭ مِّمَّا تُشْرِكُونَ
Say, ‘What thing is greatest as witness?’ Say, ‘Allah! [He is] witness between me and you, and this Quran has been revealed to me that I may warn thereby you and whomever it may reach.’ ‘Do you indeed bear witness that there are other gods besides Allah?’ Say, ‘I do not bear witness [to any such thing].’ Say, ‘Indeed He is the One God, and I indeed disown what you associate [with Him].’
ٱلَّذِينَ ءَاتَيْنَٰهُمُ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ يَعْرِفُونَهُۥ كَمَا يَعْرِفُونَ أَبْنَآءَهُمُ ۘ ٱلَّذِينَ خَسِرُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَهُمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
Those whom We have given the Book recognize him just as they recognize their sons. Those who have ruined their souls will not have faith.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
Sources present: Ṭabarsī, Majmaʿ al-Bayān [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan]; Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān [tusi_al_tibyan]; Baḥrānī, al-Burhān [bahrani_al_burhan]; al-Qummī [qummi]; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan]; An Enlightening Commentary [enlightening_commentary]. All six present.
The opening of al-Anʿām — by the sources' agreement a Makkan sūra revealed whole — frames the three great themes of the chapter through its first verses: the created order ("the heavens and the earth … the darkness and the light," 6:1), the creation of man (from clay, with a decreed and a named term, 6:2), and God's knowledge of human deeds (6:3). It then confronts the disbelievers' rejection of signs (6:4–11), affirms God's self-imposed mercy and sole lordship (6:12–18), and closes with the supreme testimony to the Prophet's truth (6:19–20).
1. The opening praise and the singular "light" (6:1). All sources read the verse as a proof of divine oneness against polytheism. [tabatabai_al_mizan] and [enlightening_commentary] both dwell on the Qurʾān's use of plural "darknesses" (ẓulumāt) against singular "light" (nūr) — truth is one, falsehood many; [enlightening_commentary] adds ʿAlī's reading that the verse answers three errant groups (materialists, dualists, and polytheists). [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] and [tusi_al_tibyan] gloss "made the darkness and the light" as night and day and explain yaʿdilūn as the astonishing act of "setting up equals" despite acknowledging the Creator.
2. The two terms and badāʾ (6:2). All four Arabic sources treat the "decreed term" and the "term named with Him." [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] and [tusi_al_tibyan] give the exegetical views (life-to-death vs. death-to-resurrection, or this world vs. the Hereafter) and the note that righteousness can lengthen one's term; [bahrani_al_burhan] and [qummi] supply the distinctly Imāmī framing through multiple Imams (al-Bāqir, al-Ṣādiq, al-Riḍā): the decreed term (maḥtūm) is fixed, while the named term admits badāʾ — God advancing or deferring what He wills. [enlightening_commentary] independently records the same two-terms tradition from Ibn ʿAbbās.
3. God "in the heavens and the earth" (6:3). [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] and [tusi_al_tibyan] construe this of God as the One worshipped and sole Manager, expressly refuting that God is confined to a place. [bahrani_al_burhan] turns the same point into narrated theology: al-Ṣādiq's "He is in every place yet distinct from His creation," and ʿAlī's refutation (with the Moses-and-four-angels report) of the claim that God is "in the sky upon the Throne." [qummi] glosses secret, open and the forgotten thought.
4. Withheld signs and divine grace (6:4–11). All read the disbelievers' demand for a tangible book or an angel (6:7–8) as obstinacy. [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] and [tusi_al_tibyan] build from it the doctrine of luṭf — God withheld the sign because He foreknew their unbelief and the harm its sequel would bring; [qummi] and [bahrani_al_burhan] add that the Prophet himself sought exemption from the signs "out of mercy for his community" and was granted intercession. All gloss "travel and look" (6:11), with [qummi] and [bahrani_al_burhan] specifying it as looking "into the Qurʾān and the accounts of the prophets."
5. The supreme testimony (6:19–20). All read 6:19 as God's witness to the Prophet against the Meccans who demanded a witness. [bahrani_al_burhan] and [qummi] preserve the occasion and the Imāmī gloss of "whomever it reaches" as whoever becomes an imam of Muḥammad's family; [bahrani_al_burhan] further attaches the tawḥīd narrations that God affirmed Himself "a thing unlike other things," a point [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] and [tusi_al_tibyan] reach grammatically from the verse itself. For 6:20, all refer "they know him as they know their sons" to the People of the Book, with [bahrani_al_burhan] and [qummi] citing ʿUmar's exchange with ʿAbd Allāh b. Salām.
[bahrani_al_burhan] alone carries the Miʿrāj narration that links 6:1's "light" to the river al-Nūr and to ʿAlī's walāya at Ghadīr. [tabatabai_al_mizan] supplies the structural reading that the first three verses map the macrocosm, the microcosm of man, and God's knowledge of his deeds, and the careful semantic distinction between khalq ("create," used of the composite heavens and earth) and jaʿl ("make," used of darkness and light). [enlightening_commentary] frames the lamp-and-storm image for the two appointed terms. The classical pair [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] and [tusi_al_tibyan] supply the juristic-theological scaffolding (luṭf, the impossibility of God in place, qirāʾāt), while the narration sources ground the same themes in the words of the Imams. No source is silent for this passage.