فصلت

حمٓ ١

{ حم } الله أعلم بمراده به.

Hā mīm: God knows best what He means by these [letters].

تَنزِيلٌ مِّنَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٢

{ تنزيل من الرحمن الرحيم } مبتدأ.

A revelation from the Compassionate, the Merciful (tanzīlun mina’l-rahmāni’l-rahīm, the subject).

كِتَـٰبٌ فُصِّلَتْ ءَايَـٰتُهُۥ قُرْءَانًا عَرَبِيًّا لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ ٣

{ كتب } خبره { فصلت ءايته } بينت بالأحكام والقصص والمواعظ { قرءانا عربيا } حال من كتاب بصفته { لقوم } متعلق بفصلت { يعلمون } يفهمون ذلك، وهم العرب.

A Book (kitābun, the predicate thereof) whose signs have been set out in detail, [whose signs have been] expounded through [various] rulings, stories and admonitions, as an Arabic Qur’ān (qur’ānan ‘arabiyyan, a circumstantial qualifier referring to kitābun, ‘a Book’, by qualifying it adjectivally) for a people (li-qawmin is semantically connected to fussilat, ‘set out in detail’) who have knowledge, [who] understand this [fact] — and they are the Arabs;

بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا فَأَعْرَضَ أَكْثَرُهُمْ فَهُمْ لَا يَسْمَعُونَ ٤

{ بشيرا } صفة قرآنا { ونذيرا فأعرض أكثرهم فهم لا يسمعون } سماع قبول.

[containing] good tidings (bashīran is an adjective describing qur’ānan, ‘a Qur’ān’) and a warning. But most of them turn away so that they do not hear, in a way so as to accept [its message].

وَقَالُوا۟ قُلُوبُنَا فِىٓ أَكِنَّةٍ مِّمَّا تَدْعُونَآ إِلَيْهِ وَفِىٓ ءَاذَانِنَا وَقْرٌ وَمِنۢ بَيْنِنَا وَبَيْنِكَ حِجَابٌ فَٱعْمَلْ إِنَّنَا عَـٰمِلُونَ ٥

{ وقالوا } للنبي { قلوبنا فى أكنة } أغطية { مما تدعونا إليه وفى ءاذاننا وقر } ثقل { ومن بيننا وبينك حجاب } خلاف في الدين { فاعمل } على دينك { إننا عملون } على ديننا.

And they say, to the Prophet, ‘Our hearts are veiled, [they are] masked, from that to which you call us, and in our ears there is a deafness and between us and you there is a partition, a variance over religion, so act, according to your religion; indeed we shall be acting!’, according to our religion.

قُلْ إِنَّمَآ أَنَا۠ بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ يُوحَىٰٓ إِلَىَّ أَنَّمَآ إِلَـٰهُكُمْ إِلَـٰهٌ وَٰحِدٌ فَٱسْتَقِيمُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِ وَٱسْتَغْفِرُوهُ ۗ وَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُشْرِكِينَ ٦

{ قل إنما أنا بشر مثلكم يوحى إلى أنما إلهكم إله وحد فاستقيموا إليه } بالإيمان والطاعة { واستغفروه وويل } كلمة عذاب { للمشركين }.

Say: ‘I am only a human being like you. It has been revealed to me [simply] that your God is One God. So be upright [in your conduct] before Him, through faith and obedience, and seek forgiveness from Him. And woe (waylun is an expression implying ‘chastisement’) to the idolaters,

ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْتُونَ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَهُم بِٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ هُمْ كَـٰفِرُونَ ٧

{ الذين لا يؤتون الزكوة وهم بالأخرة هم } تأكيد { كفرون }.

who do not pay the alms and who are disbelievers in the Hereafter ([the repetition of] hum, ‘they’, is for emphasis).

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ لَهُمْ أَجْرٌ غَيْرُ مَمْنُونٍ ٨

{ إن الذين ءامنوا وعملوا الصلحت لهم أجر غير ممنون } مقطوع.

Indeed those who believe and perform righteous deeds shall have an enduring reward’, [one that is] unceasing.

قُلْ أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَكْفُرُونَ بِٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلْأَرْضَ فِى يَوْمَيْنِ وَتَجْعَلُونَ لَهُۥٓ أَندَادًا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ رَبُّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٩

{ قل أئنكم } بتحقيق الهمزة الثانية وتسهيلها وإدخال ألف بينهما بوجهيها وبين الأولى { لتكفرون بالذى خلق الأرض فى يومين } الأحد والاثنين { وتجعلون له أندادا } شركاء { ذلك رب } مالك { العلمين } جمع عالم وهو ما سوى الله وجمع لاختلاف أنواعه بالياء والنون تغليبا للعقلاء.

Say: ‘Do you [really] (read a-innakum, pronouncing both hamzas, or by not pronouncing the second one but inserting an alif between the two in both cases) disbelieve in Him Who created the earth in two days, Sunday and Monday, and ascribe to Him associates? That is the Lord, in other words, the Possesser, of [all] the Worlds (al-‘ālamīn, the plural of ‘ālam, which denotes everything apart from God. On account of the variety [of beings] that it subsumes, it has been expressed in the plural form ending with –īn, as a way of giving prevalence [in the address] to rational beings).

وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا رَوَٰسِىَ مِن فَوْقِهَا وَبَـٰرَكَ فِيهَا وَقَدَّرَ فِيهَآ أَقْوَٰتَهَا فِىٓ أَرْبَعَةِ أَيَّامٍ سَوَآءً لِّلسَّآئِلِينَ ١٠

{ وجعل } مستأنف ولا يجوز عطفه على صلة الذي للفاصل الأجنبي { فيها رواسى } جبالا ثوابت { من فوقها وبرك فيها } بكثرة المياه والزروع والضروع { وقدر } قسم { فيها أقوتها } للناس والبهائم { فى } تمام { أربعة أيام } أي الجعل وما ذكر معه في يوم الثلاثاء والأربعاء { سوآء } منصوب على المصدر، أي استوت الأربعة استواء لا تزيد ولا تنقص { للسائلين } عن خلق الأرض بما فيها.

And He set (wa-ja‘ala, the beginning of a new [independent] sentence and cannot be a supplement to [the preceding] relative clause containing alladhī, ‘Who’, because of the intervening clause that is [syntactically] unrelated) therein firm mountains [rising] above it, and blessed it, with an abundance of water, crops and stock, and ordained, divided, therein its [various means of] sustenance, for human beings and beasts, in four, complete, days — in other words, the ‘setting therein [of mountains]’ together with what has been mentioned in addition [all] took place on Tuesday and Wednesday — evenly (sawā’an, in the accusative because it is a verbal noun) in other words, the four days were exactly four, neither less nor more, for [all] enquirers, about the creation of the earth and all that is in it.

ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰٓ إِلَى ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَهِىَ دُخَانٌ فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلْأَرْضِ ٱئْتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا قَالَتَآ أَتَيْنَا طَآئِعِينَ ١١

{ ثم استوى } قصد { إلى السماء وهى دخان } بخار مرتفع { فقال لها وللأرض ائتيا } إلى مرادي منكما { طوعا أو كرها } في موضع الحال، أي طائعتين أو مكرهتين { قالتا أتينا } بمن فينا { طائعين } فيه تغليب المذكر العاقل أو نزلتا لخطابهما منزلته.

Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke, [consisting of] rising vapours, and He said to it and to the earth, “Come both of you, to what I desire from you, willingly, or unwillingly!” (taw‘an aw karhan, their [syntactical] locus is that of a circumstantial qualifier, in other words, ‘[Come] being obedient or coerced’). They said, “We come, together with all those inhabiting us, willingly!” (tā’i‘īna mainly indicates masculine rational beings; it may also be that they are referred to in this way because they are being addressed thus).

فَقَضَىٰهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَـٰوَاتٍ فِى يَوْمَيْنِ وَأَوْحَىٰ فِى كُلِّ سَمَآءٍ أَمْرَهَا ۚ وَزَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا بِمَصَـٰبِيحَ وَحِفْظًا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلْعَلِيمِ ١٢

{ فقضهن } الضمير يرجع إلى السماء لأنها في معنى الجمع الآيلة إليه، أي صيرها { سبع سموات فى يومين } الخميس والجمعة فرغ منها في آخر ساعة منه وفيه خلق آدم ولذلك لم يقل هنا سواء، ووافق ما هنا آيات خلق السموات والأرض في ستة أيام { وأوحى فى كل سماء أمرها } الذي أمر به من فيها من الطاعة والعبادة { وزينا السماء الدنيا بمصبيح } بنجوم { وحفظا } منصوب بفعله المقدر: أي حفظناها من استراق الشياطين السمع بالشهب { ذلك تقدير العزيز } في ملكه { العليم } بخلقه.

Then He ordained them (the [suffixed] pronoun refers back to al-samā’, ‘the heaven’, because it [al-samā’] actually denotes that plural [sense] to which it will lead [in the following clause), in other words, He made them to be, seven heavens in two days — Thursday and Friday. He completed them in the last hour thereof, in which He created Adam — which is why He does not say sawā’an, ‘evenly’ here [as He did earlier]; what is said here concords with those verse in which it is stated that the heavens and the earth were created in six days; and in each heaven He revealed its commandment’, that to which He commanded those in it [to follow], in the way of obedience and worship. And We adorned the lowest heaven with lamps, with stars, and [this was also] to guard them (hifzan is in the accusative because of its implicit verbal sense, in other words, ‘We guarded it against the devils lest they try to listen therein [to the angels] by stealth with meteors’). That is the ordaining of the Mighty, in His kingdom, the Knower, of His creatures.