Al-Mulk 67:28 · The Sovereignty · Arabic, translation, recitation

Other English translations

Abdel Haleem (Oxford)+

"Say, ‘Just think- regardless of whether God destroys me and my followers or has mercy on us- who will protect the disbelievers from an agonizing torment?’"

Pickthall (classic)+

"Say (O Muhammad): Have ye thought: Whether Allah causeth me (Muhammad) and those with me to perish or hath mercy on us, still, who will protect the disbelievers from a painful doom?"

Yusuf Ali (classic)+

"Say: "See ye?- If Allah were to destroy me, and those with me, or if He bestows His Mercy on us,- yet who can deliver the Unbelievers from a grievous Penalty?""

Tafsīr · classical commentary

Ibn Kathir

Abridged English, public domain

The Death of the Believer will not save the Disbeliever, so let Him reflect upon His Deliverance

Allah says,

قُلْ

(say) `O Muhammad to these idolators who are associating partners with Allah and denying His favors,'

أَرَءَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَهْلَكَنِىَ اللَّهُ وَمَن مَّعِىَ أَوْ رَحِمَنَا فَمَن يُجِيرُ الْكَـفِرِينَ مِنْ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ

(Tell me! If Allah destroys me, and those with me, or He bestows His mercy on us - who can save the disbelievers from a painful torment) meaning, `save yourselves, for verily, there is nothing that can rescue you from Allah except repentance, turning to Him for forgiveness and returning to His religion. Your hopes that torment and exemplary punishment will strike us, will not benefit you. Whether Allah punishes us or has mercy on us, there is no escaping from Allah's punishment and painful torment that you will suffer.' Then Allah says,

قُلْ هُوَ الرَّحْمَـنُ ءَامَنَّا بِهِ وَعَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا

(Say: "He is the Most Gracious, in Him we believe, and upon Him we rely.) meaning, `we believe in the Lord of all that exists, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and upon Him we rely in all of our affairs.' This is as Allah says,

فَاعْبُدْهُ وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَيْهِ

(So worship Him and rely upon Him.) (11:123) Thus, Allah continues saying,

فَسَتَعْلَمُونَ مَنْ هُوَ فِى ضَلَـلٍ مُّبِينٍ

(So, you will come to know who it is that is in manifest error.) meaning, `between Us and you, and to whom the final end (ultimate victory) will be for in this life and in the Hereafter.'

Reminding of Allah's Blessing by the springing of Water and the Threat of It being taken away Demonstrating how merciful He is to His creatures,

Allah says;

قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَصْبَحَ مَآؤُكُمْ غَوْراً

(Say: "Tell me! If your water were to sink away...") meaning, if it were to go away, disappearing into the lowest depths of the earth, then it would not be reachable with iron axes nor strong arms. `Gha'ir' (sinking) as used here in the Ayah, is the opposite of springing forth. This is why Allah says,

فَمَن يَأْتِيكُمْ بِمَآءٍ مَّعِينٍ

(who then can supply you with flowing water) meaning, springing forth, flowing, running upon the face of the earth. This means that no one is able to do this except Allah. So, it is merely out of His favor and His grace that He causes water to spring forth for you, and He makes it run to the various regions of the earth in an amount that is suitable for the needs of servants, be it little or abundant. So Allah's is all the praise and thanks. This is the end of the Tafsir of Surat Al-Mulk and all praise and thanks are due to Allah.

قُلْ هُوَ الَّذِي أَنشَأَكُمْ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ‌ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ ۖ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَشْكُرُ‌ونَ (Say, "He is the One who has originated you, and made for you the ears and the eyes and the hearts. How little you pay gratitude" ...67:23).

Specifying ears, eyes and Heart

Of all the human sense organs, only three are mentioned here on which depends knowledge and perception of the external world. Philosophers have identified five sources of knowledge and perception that are called 'five senses': to see, hear, smell, taste or feel something. Allah has equipped man with 'nose' to smell, with 'tongue' to taste, with 'ears' to hear and with 'eyes' to see; Allah has spread 'skin' throughout man's body to feel. But out of the five physical senses, only two have been mentioned, namely, ears and eyes, because man receives a very limited range of knowledge by smelling, tasting and feeling. Man depends for information largely on hearing and seeing. Of the two organs, his sense of hearing is mentioned first, because a careful analysis shows that most of the information gathered in human life is through hearing, not so much by seeing. The third organ mentioned specifically is the 'heart', because that is the centre of knowledge. Knowledge received through hearing and seeing depends on the human 'heart', unlike the theory of the philosophers and scientists who believe that the centre of knowledge is the human 'brain'.

After this, the non-believers are threatened with punishment. Towards the end of the Surah, a statement is once again repeated to remind them which purports to say: '0 you who live on the earth, dig wells and drink water from it to quench your thirst and grow plants and vegetation, do not forget that none of these things is your personal property. They are a Divine gift. He sent down water, and loaded it in the form of ice and reserved it on the peaks of mountains, so that it may not putrefy. Then He caused the congealed water to melt gradually and allow it to seep or soak into the earth through the pores or small interstices of the mountains and allowed a network of melted water to spread throughout the earth without any pipeline. Whenever man requires, he could dig a few meters deep into the earth from its upper surface to obtain water. This is a Divine gift. If He wills, He could send the water down into the depths of the earth, and it would not be accessible to anyone. This is the import of the following verse.