Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:26
Say, "O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honor whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is [all] good. Indeed, You are over all things competent.
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 explanation of His word: قُلِ اللَّهُمَّ ("Say: O Allah").
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for the explanation of "qul Allāhumma": it means: say, O Muḥammad (the Prophet ﷺ): O Allah.
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The philologists of Arabic differed concerning the naṣb (accusative vocalization) of the "mīm" in "Allāhumma" — for it is a vocative (munādā), and the rule for a singular, non-annexed vocative is the rafʿ (nominative) — and concerning the entry of the "mīm" into it, while it was originally "Allāh" without a "mīm." Some of them said: the two "mīm's" were added to it only because it is not called with "yā" as are called those names that do not contain "alif" and "lām." That is because names that do not contain "alif" and "lām" are called with "yā," as when one says: "yā Zayd" and "yā ʿAmr." He said: thus the "mīm" in it became a substitute for the "yā," just as they said: "fum" (mouth), "ibnum" (son), "hum," "zurqum," and "stuhum," and the like of these among nouns and adjectives from which a letter is dropped and then a "mīm" is inserted in its place. He said: thus from "Allāhumma" the "yā" was dropped — by which are called the names that meet the description we gave — and the "mīm" was placed as its substitute at the end of the name.
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Others rejected this statement of theirs and said: we have heard the Arabs call "Allāhumma" with "yā," just as they call it while there is no "mīm" in it. They said: if the one who made this statement were correct in his claim, then the Arabs would not have inserted the "yā" while they had already brought its substitute. And they recited concerning that, as heard from the Arabs:
"And what would it harm you to say, every time you pray or perform the takbīr: yā Allāhumma, restore to us our shaykh unharmed."
It is also transmitted as: "when you perform the tasbīḥ or perform the takbīr." They said: we have not seen the Arabs add such a "mīm" except lightened (without doubling) to defective nouns such as: "al-fum" (the mouth), "ibnum," and "hum." They said: we hold that it is a word to which "amma" has been added, in the sense of: "yā Allāh, amma-nā bi-khayr" ("O Allah, direct us toward good"), and that it was used frequently in the language until it became fused with it. They said: the ḍamma (the u-sound) that is in the "hāʾ" comes from the hamza of "amma"; when it was dropped, it transferred to what preceded it. They said: and we hold that the saying of the Arabs "halumma ilaynā" ("come here to us") is comparable to it. "Halumma" was originally only "hal," to which "amma" was added, and it was left in its naṣb form. They said: among the Arabs there are those who, when the "mīm" is dropped, say: "yā Allāh ighfir lī" and "yā A-llāh ighfir lī" ("O Allah, forgive me"), pronouncing the "alif" of "Allāh" at one time as a hamza and at another time as a connecting alif (waṣl). Whoever drops it treats it according to its origin, because it is "alif and lām," like the "alif and lām" that enter as an addition into definite nouns. And whoever pronounces it as a hamza supposes it to belong to the (root) letter, since it does not fall away from it. And they recited concerning the pronunciation of its "alif" as a hamza:
"Blessed is He, and whoever has named Him by Your name, O Allāhumma, O Allāh."
They said: and "Allāhumma" was used frequently in the language, until its "mīm" was lightened (without doubling) in some dialects, and they recited:
"Like an oath of Abū Riyāḥ which the great Allāh hears."
The transmitters recite it as: "which his great God hears."
And some have recited it as: "which Allāh hears, and Allāh is great."
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The explanation of His word: مَالِكَ الْمُلْكِ تُؤْتِي الْمُلْكَ مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتَنْزِعُ الْمُلْكَ مِمَّنْ تَشَاءُ ("Possessor of sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means thereby: O Possessor of sovereignty, O You to whom the sovereignty of this world and the Hereafter purely belongs, to the exclusion of anyone whomsoever, as in:
6789 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr, concerning His word: "qul Allāhumma mālik al-mulk" ("Say: O Allah, Possessor of sovereignty"), that is: O Lord of the servants, the sovereignty — none other than You has disposal over them.
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As for His word: "tuʾtī al-mulk man tashāʾ" ("You give sovereignty to whom You will"), it means: You give sovereignty to whom You will, and You cause him to possess it and set him in authority over whom You will.
And His word: "wa-tanziʿu al-mulk man tashāʾ" ("and You take sovereignty away from whom You will") means: and You take sovereignty away from whomever You will to take it away. Thus the mention of "that You will to take it away from him" was omitted, because one was content with the indication of it in His word "wa-tanziʿu al-mulk mimman tashāʾ," as one says: "take what you will = and be in what you will," by which is meant: take what you will to take, and be in what you will to be; and as He, exalted be His praise, said: فِي أَيِّ صُورَةٍ مَا شَاءَ رَكَّبَكَ [Surah al-Infiṭār: 8] ("In whatever form He willed, He assembled you"), which means: in whatever form He willed to assemble you therein, He assembled you.
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And it has been said: this verse was sent down upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in answer to his request to his Lord to grant the sovereignty of Persia and the Romans to his community.
Mention of who said that:
6790 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: and it was mentioned to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ asked his Lord, exalted be His praise, to give him the sovereignty of Persia and the Romans among his community, whereupon Allah, mighty and exalted, sent down: "qul Allāhumma mālik al-mulk tuʾtī al-mulk man tashāʾ" up to إِنَّكَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ("verily, You have power over all things").
6791 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: it was mentioned to us — and Allah knows best — that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ asked his Lord, mighty and exalted, to give the sovereignty of Persia and the Romans among his community, and he then mentioned something similar.
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And it has been transmitted from Mujāhid that he used to say: the meaning of "al-mulk" (sovereignty) in this place is: prophethood.
Mention of the transmission from him concerning that:
6792 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: "tuʾtī al-mulk man tashāʾ wa-tanziʿu al-mulk mimman tashāʾ," he said: prophethood.
6793 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
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The explanation of His word: وَتُعِزُّ مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَنْ تَشَاءُ بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُ إِنَّكَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (26) ("And You exalt whom You will and You abase whom You will; in Your hand is the good; verily, You have power over all things").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted be His praise, means: "wa-tuʿizzu man tashāʾ" ("and You exalt whom You will"), by giving him sovereignty and authority and extending power for him = "wa-tudhillu man tashāʾ" ("and You abase whom You will") by stripping him of his sovereignty and setting his enemy in authority over him = "bi-yadika al-khayr" ("in Your hand is the good"), that is: all of this is in Your hand and with You; no one has the power to do it, because You have power over all things, to the exclusion of the rest of Your creatures, and to the exclusion of the one whom the polytheists (mushrikīn) among the People of the Book and the unlettered ones among the Arabs have taken as a god and lord whom they worship instead of You, such as the Messiah and those put on a par with him whom the unlettered ones have taken as a lord, as in:
6794 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr, concerning His word: "tuʾtī al-mulk man tashāʾ," the verse, that is: that is in Your hand, not with any other than You = "innaka ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr" ("verily, You have power over all things"), that is: none other than You has the power to do this, by Your authority and Your capacity.
