Tafseer of The Emissaries · Al-Mursalaat · 77:23
And We determined [it], and excellent [are We] to determine.
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.
( فَقَدَرْنَا فَنِعْمَ الْقَادِرُونَ ) [So We have measured, and how excellent are the Measurers] — the reciters differed concerning the reading of this. The general reciters of Medina read it as ( فَقَدَّرْنا ) [faqaddarnā] with doubling (tashdīd). And the general reciters of Kūfa and Baṣra read it with lightening (takhfīf) [faqadarnā].
The correct judgement concerning this is that they are two well-known readings, and with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he has done correctly — even though I prefer the lightened reading on account of His saying ( فَنِعْمَ الْقَادِرُونَ ) [and how excellent are the Measurers], since the Arabs sometimes combine the two forms, as one has said: "Grant the unbelievers respite, grant them a short while respite" — combining the doubling and the lightening, as al-Aʿshā said:
"And she denied me, and it was not that which she denied of the vicissitudes, except the grey hairs and the baldness." (1)
And it is possible that the meaning with the doubling and with the lightening is one and the same. For it is related of the Arabs: "qudira ʿalayhi al-mawt" [death was decreed for him] and "quddira" — with the lightening and with the doubling.
And by His saying ( فَقَدَرْنَا فَنِعْمَ الْقَادِرُونَ ) is meant what Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Ibn al-Mubārak, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: ( فَقَدَرْنَا فَنِعْمَ الْقَادِرُونَ ) he said: so We have decreed, and how excellent are the Decreers (that is, the Possessors).
