سلط

Core meaning

To have a hold over: authority, power to act or proof that grounds, always received from another and never possessed by oneself.

Uses

1. سُلْطَان (what grounds) → "authority" : what grounds a belief or an obedience; most often denied: God has sent down none of it.

   • «بِمَآ أَشْرَكُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ مَا لَمْ يُنَزِّلْ بِهِۦ سُلْطَٰنًۭا» — "for having associated with God that for which He has sent down no authority" (3:151)
   • «إِنْ عِندَكُم مِّن سُلْطَٰنٍۭ بِهَٰذَآ» — "You have no authority for this" (10:68)

2. سُلْطَان مُّبِين → "a manifest authority" : the one that accompanies the envoy, with the signs.

   • «وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا مُوسَىٰ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا وَسُلْطَٰنٍۢ مُّبِينٍ» — "We have indeed sent Moussa with Our signs and manifest authority" (11:96)
   • «وَءَاتَيْنَا مُوسَىٰ سُلْطَٰنًۭا مُّبِينًۭا» — "and We gave Moussa manifest authority" (4:153)

3. سُلْطَان عَلَى → "authority over" : the hold over others, which the Diverter does not have over those who believe.

   • «إِنَّ عِبَادِى لَيْسَ لَكَ عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطَٰنٌ» — "Over My obedient ones, you indeed have no authority" (15:42)
   • «إِنَّمَا سُلْطَٰنُهُۥ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ يَتَوَلَّوْنَهُۥ» — "His authority is exercised only over those who take him as ally" (16:100)

4. سَلَّطَ عَلَى → "to give power over" : to grant someone a hold over another.

   • «لَسَلَّطَهُمْ عَلَيْكُمْ» — "He would have given them power over you" (4:90)
   • «وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُسَلِّطُ رُسُلَهُۥ عَلَىٰ مَن يَشَآءُ» — "But God gives His messengers power over whom He wills" (59:6)

Evidence from the text

Authority always comes from elsewhere. It comes down from God, which is why the deities named by men have none: "God has sent down no authority for them" (53:23). It is demanded of the messengers as a proof (14:10), and they answer that they cannot bring it "except with God's permission" (14:11).

The Diverter himself admits it: "I had no authority over you, except to call you" (14:22); his own is exercised only over those who take him as ally (16:100). When granted, it remains bounded: the legal guardian receives an authority, "but let him not be excessive in taking life" (17:33). And whoever had thought it his own sees it vanish: "my authority has perished far from me" (69:29).

Distinctions

• ملك — kingship: the possession of power, whereas authority is a hold received
• بين — the clear proof: what makes evident, whereas authority grounds the right to speak or act