قُلِ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَسَلَـٰمٌ عَلَىٰ عِبَادِهِ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱصْطَفَىٰٓ ۗ ءَآللَّهُ خَيْرٌ أَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ 59
Translations
Say, [O Muḥammad], "Praise be to Allāh, and peace upon His servants whom He has chosen. Is Allāh better or what they associate with Him?"
Transliteration
Qul al-hamdu lillahi wa-assalamu 'ala 'ibaadihi alladhina istafa. A-allahu khayrun amma yushrikun.
Tafsir (Explanation)
The Prophet is commanded to proclaim that all praise belongs to Allah alone and to send peace upon His chosen servants—the prophets and righteous believers. The ayah then poses a rhetorical question highlighting Allah's supremacy: Is Allah better, or the false gods that the polytheists associate with Him? According to Ibn Kathir and Al-Tabari, this ayah emphasizes tawhid (monotheism) by contrasting the perfection of Allah with the utter baseness of idols, thereby refuting shirk (polytheism) at its core.
Revelation Context
This ayah appears in the Meccan surah An-Naml during a period of intense opposition to the Prophet's monotheistic message. The surah addresses the polytheists of Mecca, and this particular verse serves as a powerful refutation of their idolatry, directly confronting their practice of associating partners with Allah.
Related Hadiths
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, 'The best supplication is 'Alhamdulillah' (praise be to Allah)' (Jami' at-Tirmidhi). Additionally, the greeting of Assalamu 'alaikum (peace be upon you) practiced among believers exemplifies the implementation of the command to send peace in this ayah.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah reminds believers to constantly affirm Allah's oneness through praise and to recognize that true peace and blessing come only from following Allah and His chosen servants, not from the pursuit of worldly false gods or material desires that distract from spiritual truth.
Related Ayahs
إِنِّى وَجَدتُّ ٱمْرَأَةً تَمْلِكُهُمْ وَأُوتِيَتْ مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ وَلَهَا عَرْشٌ عَظِيمٌ
Indeed, I found [there] a woman ruling them, and she has been given of all things, and she has a great throne.
وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَيَعْلَمُ مَا تُكِنُّ صُدُورُهُمْ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ
And indeed, your Lord knows what their breasts conceal and what they declare.
قَالَ يَـٰقَوْمِ لِمَ تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ بِٱلسَّيِّئَةِ قَبْلَ ٱلْحَسَنَةِ ۖ لَوْلَا تَسْتَغْفِرُونَ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ
He said, "O my people, why are you impatient for evil before [i.e., instead of] good? Why do you not seek forgiveness of Allāh that you may receive mercy?"
وَجَدتُّهَا وَقَوْمَهَا يَسْجُدُونَ لِلشَّمْسِ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ أَعْمَـٰلَهُمْ فَصَدَّهُمْ عَنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ فَهُمْ لَا يَهْتَدُونَ
I found her and her people prostrating to the sun instead of Allāh, and Satan has made their deeds pleasing to them and averted them from [His] way, so they are not guided,