قُلِ ٱنظُرُوا۟ مَاذَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا تُغْنِى ٱلْـَٔايَٰتُ وَٱلنُّذُرُ عَن قَوْمٍ لَّا يُؤْمِنُونَ · فَهَلْ يَنتَظِرُونَ إِلَّا مِثْلَ أَيَّامِ ٱلَّذِينَ خَلَوْا۟ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ · ثُمَّ نُنَجِّى رُسُلَنَا وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كَذَٰلِكَ حَقًّا عَلَيْنَا نُنجِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
"Say: 'Look at what is in the heavens and on the earth!' But signs and warnings avail nothing for a people who will not believe. · Do they wait for anything but the like of the days of those who passed away before them? Say: 'Wait; I am with you among those who wait.' · Then We save Our messengers and those who believe. Thus: it is a right upon Us that We save the believers."
قُلِ ٱنظُرُوا۟ مَاذَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ — and the command must be recorded: unẓurū — look.
I record this as an observation about the word order: the object of the command is not stated. Mādhā fi's-samāwāti wa'l-arḍ — "whatever is in the heavens and on the earth". The direction given, that is, is not to a particular proof but to everything that can be looked at.
And the root ن-ظ-ر gathers in the last section of the sūra: unẓurū (101), yantaẓirūn and fa'ntaẓirū and al-muntaẓirīn (102). The same root, in the same section, in the sense both of looking and of waiting.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the unity of the root: the sūra sets two verbs side by side — look and wait. And the difference between them is that the one is now and the other later.
وَمَا تُغْنِى ٱلْـَٔايَٰتُ وَٱلنُّذُرُ — and the root غ-ن-ي for the fourth time in the sūra. In the thirty-sixth verse ẓann did not take the place of the truth; here signs avail nothing for one who will not believe.
| Verse | What is of no use |
|---|---|
| 36 | Al-ẓann — it takes the place of nothing of the truth |
| 101 | Al-āyātu wa'n-nudhur — they avail nothing for one who will not believe |
The same verb, in two opposite directions. I record this as an observation about the wording: with one and the same root the sūra says both that a false ground does not suffice and that a true proof is of no use unless it meets a response.
Ayyām here does not mean "days" but what befell them. The lexicographers record that in Arabic the term ayyāmu'l-ʿarab relates battles and events: yawm, the day on which something of consequence happened. I relate this usage as it is transmitted.
And it is the same word as sittati ayyām in the third verse. Within the sūra one and the same word serves once for the periods of the creating and once for what befell peoples.
فَٱنتَظِرُوٓا۟ إِنِّى مَعَكُم مِّنَ ٱلْمُنتَظِرِينَ — a word-for-word repetition of the twentieth verse; tabulated above.
كَذَٰلِكَ حَقًّا عَلَيْنَا نُنجِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ — "it is a right upon Us that We save the believers."
And the backbone word of the sūra occurs here for the last time, in its most striking form: ḥaqqan ʿalaynā.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the particle: ʿalā in Arabic states obligation. The verse names the saving not as a promise but as an obligation taken upon oneself. And this is the last place the word ḥaqq comes in the sūra: the word ceases to be a matter under debate and becomes an undertaking.
And the observation recorded at al-Raʿd 13/40 works here too: what lies on the other side of the limit is not left blank.