Tafseer of The Thunder · Ar-Ra'd · 13:27
And those who disbelieved say, "Why has a sign not been sent down to him from his Lord?" Say, [O Muhammad], "Indeed, Allah leaves astray whom He wills and guides to Himself whoever turns back [to Him] -
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says: and the polytheists of your people say to you, O Muḥammad: if only a sign from your Lord had been sent down upon you — whether an angel who is with you as a warner, or a treasure cast down to you? Then say: Allah causes whom He wills among you to go astray, O people, and He delays him from affirming me and believing in what I have brought from my Lord — وَيَهْدِي إِلَيْهِ مَنْ أَنَابَ — whoever returned in repentance from his disbelief and believed in Him, him He guides to obeying me and affirming me in what I brought from his Lord. And the going-astray of him who strays is not the result of the failure of a sign to come from me from my Lord, nor is the right-guidance of him who is guided the result of a sign being sent down upon me; all of that is in the hand of Allah: He guides whom He wills among you to faith, and He forsakes whom He wills so that he does not believe.
We have set forth elsewhere in our book the meaning of "al-ināba" (the turning, the return to Allah) with proofs, so that repetition here is unnecessary.
20357 — Bišr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word وَيَهْدِي إِلَيْهِ مَنْ أَنَابَ : that is to say whoever turned in repentance and followed it up.
