قُلْ أَطِيعُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا۟ ٱلرَّسُولَ فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا۟ فَإِنَّمَا عَلَيْهِ مَا حُمِّلَ وَعَلَيْكُم مَّا حُمِّلْتُمْ وَإِن تُطِيعُوهُ تَهْتَدُوا۟ وَمَا عَلَى ٱلرَّسُولِ إِلَّا ٱلْبَلَٰغُ ٱلْمُبِينُ
Qul aṭīʿu'llāha wa aṭīʿu'l-rasūl, fa-in tawallaw fa-innamā ʿalayhi mā ḥummila wa ʿalaykum mā ḥummiltum, wa in tuṭīʿūhu tahtadū, wa mā ʿala'l-rasūli illa'l-balāghu'l-mubīn
"Say: 'Obey God, and obey the Messenger.' If you turn away, upon him is only what he has been charged with, and upon you what you have been charged with. If you obey him you will be guided. And nothing is laid upon the Messenger but plain delivery."
And the choice of the form is worth noting: the verb is passive. Responsibility, that is, is named not as something a man chooses for himself but as a load laid upon him.
| Whom | What |
|---|---|
| ʿalayhi — upon him | mā ḥummila — what was laid upon him |
| ʿalaykum — upon you | mā ḥummiltum — what was laid upon you |
The same verb is applied to both sides. The sentence, that is, sets up no superiority; it describes two distinct loads.
And the expression is a note of limit repeated in the Qurʾān: the Messenger's work is the delivering; not the outcome.
The root ب-ي-ن occurs here again (al-mubīn) and was recorded in the table of its distribution through the sūra.