Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 27:93
And say, "[All] praise is [due] to Allah. He will show you His signs, and you will recognize them. And your Lord is not unaware of what you do."
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 Most High addresses His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: قُلْ — say, O Muḥammad, to these polytheists (mushrikīn) from among your people who say to you: مَتَى هَذَا الْوَعْدُ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ ('When will this promise come, if you are truthful?'): الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ('All praise is due to Allah') — for His favor toward us, in that He has guided us to the Truth to which you are blind. Your Lord will show you the signs of His punishment and His wrath, so that therein you will recognize the reality of the sincere counsel I gave you, and the truthfulness of that to which I invited you will become manifest: the right guidance.
What we have said concerning this is also what the exegetes said.
Mention of those who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his explanation of سَيُرِيكُمْ آيَاتِهِ فَتَعْرِفُونَهَا ('He will show you His signs and you will recognize them'): he said: in yourselves, in the heaven and the earth and the provision.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning سَيُرِيكُمْ آيَاتِهِ فَتَعْرِفُونَهَا : he said: in yourselves, the heaven and the earth and the provision.
As for وَمَا رَبُّكَ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ ('and your Lord is not unmindful of what they do'): the Most High says: your Lord, O Muḥammad, is not unmindful of what these polytheists do; rather, they have an appointed term which they will reach, and when they reach it, they will not be delayed or advanced by a single moment. The Most High says to His Prophet ﷺ: let their denial not grieve you, for I am about to destroy them, and I already lie in wait for them; so be assured of victory for yourself and of humiliation and disgrace for your enemy.
