Surah Al-Hijr Ayat 42 in Arabic Text
English Translation
Here you can read various translations of verse 42
Indeed, My servants – no authority will you have over them, except those who follow you of the deviators.
“For over My servants no authority shalt thou have, except such as put themselves in the wrong and follow thee.”
Over My true servants you will be able to exercise no power, your power will be confined to the erring ones, those who choose to follow you.
“Certainly, you shall have no authority over My slaves, except those who follow you of the Ghawin (Mushrikun and those who go astray, criminals, polytheists, and evil-doers, etc.).
Lo! as for My slaves, thou hast no power over any of them save such of the froward as follow thee,
Surely over My bondmen you will have no all-binding authority, except the ones who closely follow 128 you of the misguided ones.”
you will have no power over My servants, only over the ones who go astray and follow you.
میرے بندوں پر تجھے کوئی غلبہ نہیں، لیکن ہاں جو گمراه لوگ تیری پیروی کریں
Quran 15 Verse 42 Explanation
For those looking for commentary to help with the understanding of Surah Al-Hijr ayat 42, we’ve provided two Tafseer works below. The first is the tafseer of Abul Ala Maududi, the second is of Ibn Kathir.
Ala-Maududi
(15:42) Over My true servants you will be able to exercise no power, your power will be confined to the erring ones, those who choose to follow you.[24]
24. This (Surah Al-Hijr, ayat 42) also may have another meaning: You will have no power over My servants (common people) to force them to disobey Me. However, We will give freedom of action to those who will willingly or deliberately follow you, and we will not forcibly prevent them from your way, if they intended to follow you.
According to the first rendering, these verses will mean this: The way followed by My sincere servants is the only straight way to reach Me. Satan will have no power over those people who follow it, for I will choose them to be My own servants. Satan himself admitted that he will not be able to entice them. On the contrary, he will succeed in beguiling those people who themselves will deviate from the way of obedience. They will then wander farther and farther away following his temptations and allurements.
According to the second meaning, the passage will mean this: When Satan challenged that he would beguile people from the way of Allah by making this worldly life very tempting to them, Allah accepted his challenge but made it clear to him that he was being allowed only to beguile people with temptation, but was not being given any power to force them to deviate from the right way. At this, Satan clarified that his challenge did not apply to those people whom Allah will choose for Himself. As this exception might have led to a misunderstanding that Allah may choose any people for Himself to keep them safe and secure from the reach of Satan, Allah clarified it, saying: Only that person will follow you, who himself will deviate from the right way. As a corollary to this, that person, who will not deviate from the right way will not follow you, and will, thus become Our servant, whom We will choose for Ourself.
Ibn-Kathir
The tafsir of Surah Hijr verse 42 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Hijr ayat 39 which provides the complete commentary from verse 39 through 44.
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