قَالَ هَٰذَا صِرَٰطٌ عَلَىَّ مُسْتَقِيمٌ · إِنَّ عِبَادِى لَيْسَ لَكَ عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطَٰنٌ إِلَّا مَنِ ٱتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ ٱلْغَاوِينَ
Qāla hādhā ṣirāṭun ʿalayya mustaqīm · Inna ʿibādī laysa laka ʿalayhim sulṭānun illā mani'ttabaʿaka mina'l-ghāwīn
"He said: 'This is a straight path leading to Me. · Over My servants you have no power — except those of the erring who follow you.'"
| Reading | ʿAlayya | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Leading to Me" — the destination of the road | The straight road comes out at Me |
| 2 | "Incumbent upon Me" — an undertaking | Showing the straight road belongs to Me |
| 3 | "Under My watch" — oversight | The road is in My keeping |
A difference of variant reading is also transmitted: the word has also been read as ʿaliyyun (exalted); on that reading the sense becomes "this is an exalted and straight road". I give no imam's name.
What must be recorded is where the sentence is said: immediately after Iblīs's undertaking. That is, what is given in answer to a threat is the existence of a road. I record this as an observation about the word order: the answer rests not on refuting the threat but on setting something over against it.
Sulṭān — proof, argument; and the power of decision. The root س-ل-ط: to have the power of disposal over something.
And this sentence is the same as what Satan says out of his own mouth at Ibrāhīm 14/22: wa mā kāna liya ʿalaykum min sulṭānin illā an daʿawtukum fa'stajabtum lī.
| Place | Who says it | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Ibrāhīm 14/22 | Satan | A confession — on the day of reckoning |
| al-Ḥijr 15/42 | God | A ruling — a limit set from the outset |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the two verses use the same word: the same limit is declared at the outset in one sūra and confessed at the end in the other. The two texts confirm one another.
And the exception must be recorded: illā mani'ttabaʿaka mina'l-ghāwīn — "except those of the erring who follow you."
A point of word order: the exception conveys not Satan's power but the consequence of following. The verb is ittabaʿa — to follow; that is, the movement comes from the other side. This is on the same line as the two-verb description at Ibrāhīm 14/22 (daʿawtukum / fa'stajabtum lī).