Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 27:47
They said, "We consider you a bad omen, you and those with you." He said, "Your omen is with Allah. Rather, you are a people being tested."
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.
Allah, exalted be His remembrance, says: Thamūd said to their messenger Ṣāliḥ: اطَّيَّرْنَا بِكَ وَبِمَنْ مَعَكَ ("we regard you and those who are with you as an evil omen") — that is to say: we consider you and those who are with you of your followers to be a sign of misfortune, and we have made the birds fly over you with the result that calamities and adversities will befall us through you and them. Ṣāliḥ answered them and said: طَائِرُكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ ("your omen is with Allah") — that is to say: the birds you have made fly with a view to what adversities will befall you — the knowledge of that is with Allah. One does not know which of them will become reality: the adversities or calamities you suspect, or the well-being and the expected good things you hope for?
In accordance with what we have said about this the exegetes spoke.
*Mention of who said that:*
ʿAlī related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his word قَالَ طَائِرُكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ: he says: your adversities.
Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, his word طَائِرُكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ: your knowledge is with Allah.
His word بَلْ أَنْتُمْ قَوْمٌ تُفْتَنُونَ ("but you are a people who are being tested"): he says: but you are a people whom your Lord tests by His having sent me to you — will you obey Him and act according to what He has commanded you, so that He gives you the ample reward of His recompense? Or will you disobey Him by defying Him, after which His punishment descends upon you?
