Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 27:25
[And] so they do not prostrate to Allah, who brings forth what is hidden within the heavens and the earth and knows what you conceal and what you declare -
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.
The reciters differed over the reading of His word أَلَّا يَسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ. Some reciters of Mecca, Medina, and Kufa read "allā" with lightening (takhfīf), in the sense of: "allā yā hāʾulāʾi usjudū" — come now, O you all, prostrate yourselves — omitting "hāʾulāʾi," content with the indication of it by "yā." Some of them cited, as heard from the Arabs: "alā yā irḥamnā" and "alā yā taṣaddaq ʿalaynā." As a witness they also adduced the verse of al-Akhṭal:
"alā yā uslamī yā Hind, Hind of Banū Badr — even though our two tribes were enemies until the end of time."
In this reading, "usjudū" in this place is apocopate (majzūm), and "alā" has no grammatical position in the declension. The general reciters of Medina, Kufa, and Basra read أَلَّا يَسْجُدُوا with doubling (tashdīd) of "allā," in the sense of: "Satan has made their deeds fair-seeming to them so that they do not prostrate to Allah" — "allā" is in the position of the accusative as I have mentioned its meaning, namely "liʾallā"; and "yasjudū" is in the position of the accusative through "an."
The correct view on this is that they are two readings widely current among the reciters of the great cities; learned reciters have read each of the two, and both are correct in their meaning.
The grammarians differed over the reason for inserting "yā" in the reading of the one who read it as a command. Some grammarians of Basra said: whoever reads it thus makes it a command, as if he says: prostrate yourselves — and he added "yā" in between it as a signal for attention, then he dropped the connecting alif of "usjudū," and the alif of "yā" fell away because it is a quiescent letter that met the sīn, so that it became: "alā yasjudū." Some grammarians of Kufa said: this "yā" that is inserted as a vocative particle may stand without a noun, and the noun may stand without "yā"; one says: "yā aqbil" and "Zayd aqbil"; and whatever of the quiescent letters falls away follows this principle.
And by His word يُخْرِجُ الْخَبْءَ He means: He brings forth the hidden in the heavens and on the earth, such as rain in the heaven and crops on the earth and the like.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the people of exegesis also spoke, though their expressions about it differed.
Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, from Ibn Jurayj, as the reading of Mujāhid: يُخْرِجُ الْخَبْءَ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ: he said: the rain.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, concerning His word يُخْرِجُ الْخَبْءَ: he said: the rain.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word الَّذِي يُخْرِجُ الْخَبْءَ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ: he said: the hidden of heaven and earth is what Allah has placed therein of sustenance, rain from the heaven and crops from the earth; they were closed — this one did not rain and this one did not bring forth crops — but He opened the heaven and sent down the rain, and brought forth the crops.
Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus related to us, from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, from Ḥakīm ibn Jābir, concerning His word أَلَّا يَسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ الَّذِي يُخْرِجُ الْخَبْءَ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ: He knows every hidden thing in the heavens and on the earth.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, he said: ʿUbaydullāh ibn Mūsā related to us, he said: Usāma ibn Zayd informed us, from Muʿādh ibn ʿAbdillāh, he said: I saw Ibn ʿAbbās on a mule asking Tubaʿ, the stepson of Kaʿb: did you ask Kaʿb about the seed that the earth causes to sprout this year, which had received no rain last year? He said: I heard Kaʿb say: the seed descends from the heaven and comes forth from the earth. He said: that is correct.
Abū Jaʿfar said: it is in fact Tubaʿ, but Muḥammad said it thus. And it has been said: يُخْرِجُ الْخَبْءَ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ because the Arabs use "min" in place of "fī" and "fī" in place of "min" in the matter of extraction. وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تُخْفُونَ وَمَا تُعْلِنُونَ: he says: He knows the hidden of the deeds of His creatures — these people to whom Satan has made their deeds fair-seeming — and the open thereof; this is according to the reading of the one who reads "allā" with doubling. According to the reading of the one who reads with lightening, the meaning is: He knows what His creatures conceal, those whom He has commanded to prostrate with His word "allā yā hāʾulāʾi usjudū." It has been mentioned that in the recitation of Ubayy it reads: "allā tasjudū lillāhi alladhī yaʿlamu sirrakum wa-mā tuʿlinūn."
