يَٰمَعْشَرَ ٱلْجِنِّ وَٱلْإِنسِ إِنِ ٱسْتَطَعْتُمْ أَن تَنفُذُوا۟ مِنْ أَقْطَارِ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ فَٱنفُذُوا۟ لَا تَنفُذُونَ إِلَّا بِسُلْطَٰنٍ
Yā maʿshara'l-jinni wa'l-insi ini'staṭaʿtum an tanfudhū min aqṭāri'l-samāwāti wa'l-arḍi fa'nfudhū; lā tanfudhūna illā bi-sulṭān
"O company of jinn and men! If you have the power to pass out through the bounds of the heavens and the earth, then pass; you will not pass except by a sulṭān."
A note of method must be entered at the outset concerning this verse. This verse is often used with the claim that it points to space travel. That interpretation is not entered into in this commentary, and the grounds will be written briefly below under a separate heading. First I look at what the words say.
Root: ع-ش-ر. The core of this root is the number ten (ʿashara), and from there the sense of being together is reached:
- عَشِيرَة — a body of kin, a clan.
- مُعَاشَرَة — to live together, to get on together.
- مَعْشَر — a body of people gathered together, an assembly.
The choice of word is meaningful. The verse does not say "O jinn and men"; it says "O company of jinn and men" — it joins the two species into a single company.
The address, that is, is made to the two groups not separately but together. And this confirms the content of the dual form in the refrain.
Note the order: here the jinn come first. Yet at 14-15 man came first, and at 39 man will come first again. The order is not fixed.
In the classical commentaries this is explained by saying that the jinn's attempt to approach the bounds of the heavens was a known matter — verses 8-9 of Sūrat al-Jinn recount this, and it was treated in al-Jinn.
In Turkish the borrowed words kutur ("diameter") and kıta ("continent") are connected with it; beneath the word lies the idea of the distance from one end of a thing to the other.
The verse does not say "through the inside of the heavens and the earth", then; it says "through the edges, the bounds, of the heavens and the earth." What is at issue is going outside an area.
- نَفَذَ — it passed, it pierced through. Used of an arrow: it pierced the target and came out the other side.
- نَافِذ — in force, in effect (a ruling being nāfidh).
- مَنْفَذ — a passage, an opening.
- نُفُوذ — penetration: working into, the passing of influence (the Turkish nüfuz is this word).
The root's proper idea: to come out on the other side of a barrier. And note: the verb describes not going but passing through. Not covering a distance but crossing a limit.
| Mood | Expression | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Conditional | ini'staṭaʿtum an tanfudhū | It supposes the possibility |
| Imperative | fa'nfudhū | It challenges |
| Negative | lā tanfudhūna illā bi-sulṭān | It states the outcome |
This is the Qurʾān's settled pattern of challenge. The same structure was treated in the section on al-Mursalāt:
فَإِن كَانَ لَكُمْ كَيْدٌ فَكِيدُونِ — "If you have a stratagem, then try it against Me!" (al-Mursalāt 77/39)
And the measure recorded there holds here too: the imperative here is not a permission but a demonstration of incapacity. "Do it if you can" is said in the knowledge that it cannot be done.
| View | Sense | Its ground in the Qurʾān |
|---|---|---|
| Power, might | You can pass only by a power — which you do not have | The word's proper sense in the dictionary |
| Proof, warrant, authority | You can pass only by a proof or permission — which has not been given | The Qurʾān often uses sulṭān in the sense of proof: sulṭānin mubīn — "a manifest proof" |
The second view is strong in point of usage within the Qurʾān. The word sulṭān occurs many times in the Qurʾān in the sense of "proof", and generally in the form "they have no sulṭān sent down to them", showing the groundlessness of a claim.
And the two views do not exclude each other, because the idea beneath sulṭān in Arabic is single: the warrant to prevail. A proof prevails, and so does a power.
I do not impose a preference. I record only this much: the verse does not declare an impossibility, it sets a condition — and says that the condition is not met. It does not say "you cannot pass"; it says "you can pass only by such a thing".
| View | What it says | Its ground |
|---|---|---|
| In the hereafter | On that day they will attempt to flee and will not be able to | The context: the next verse (35) is a description of punishment; 37-44 are scenes of the resurrection |
| In this world | Even now one cannot go outside His domain | The verbs are imperfect; it stands like a general ruling |
| Both at once | The ruling is general and holds at both times | — |
The first view is the strongest in point of context and the majority of the classical commentaries adopt it. That the next verse says "a flame of fire will be sent against you, and you will not be able to defend yourselves" looks like the suppression of an attempt at flight.
This verse was already cited in al-Jinn, and the connection drawn there is completed here. What was recorded there:
This idea is expressed in the Qurʾān by an explicit sentence of challenge as well, and its addressees are again the jinn and men: "O company of jinn and men! If you can pass beyond the bounds of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You can pass only by a power." (al-Raḥmān 55/33) The same two species, the same matter: the attempt to go outside the domain. al-Jinn 72/12 is like the answer to that challenge — the jinn have given the answer for themselves: we cannot pass.
The Qurʾān issues a challenge in one sūra, then, and in another the party challenged gives the answer.
Giving this verse the sense of space travel is a widespread reading, and it is not adopted in this commentary. The grounds, briefly:
One. The verb of the verse is not travel but nufūdh — to pierce through a limit. A vehicle that goes into space has not pierced through the "bounds" of the heavens; it is moving inside them.
Two. The verse is a challenge, and the function of a challenge is to show incapacity. It is not a sentence announcing a possibility but one declaring an impossibility. To draw a success out of the verse is to turn the mood of the sentence upside down.
Three. The context is punishment. The next verse says "a flame will be sent against you". This is the account not of a technological forecast but of the suppression of an attempt at flight.
Four. To load the word sulṭān with senses like "fuel" or "thrust" rests on none of its uses in the Qurʾān.
Five. The principle of method recorded in the section on al-ʿAlaq holds here too: to tie a verse to a current description is to make it a partner in the fate of that description.