وَيَصْنَعُ ٱلْفُلْكَ وَكُلَّمَا مَرَّ عَلَيْهِ مَلَأٌ مِّن قَوْمِهِۦ سَخِرُوا۟ مِنْهُ قَالَ إِن تَسْخَرُوا۟ مِنَّا فَإِنَّا نَسْخَرُ مِنكُمْ كَمَا تَسْخَرُونَ · فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ مَن يَأْتِيهِ عَذَابٌ يُخْزِيهِ وَيَحِلُّ عَلَيْهِ عَذَابٌ مُّقِيمٌ
wa yaṣnaʿu'l-fulka wa kullamā marra ʿalayhi malaʾun min qawmihī sakhirū minh, qāla in taskharū minnā fa-innā naskharu minkum kamā taskharūn · fa-sawfa taʿlamūna man yaʾtīhi ʿadhābun yukhzīhi wa yaḥillu ʿalayhi ʿadhābun muqīm
"He was building the ark, and every time the leading men of his people passed by him they mocked him. He said: 'If you mock us, we shall mock you just as you mock. · You will come to know upon whom a punishment will come that disgraces him, and upon whom a lasting punishment will descend.'"
In the thirty-seventh verse there was an imperative (wa'ṣnaʿ), in the thirty-eighth there is an imperfect (wa yaṣnaʿu).
This is the technique of narration called in Arabic ḥikāyat al-ḥāl: a past event is told in the present tense and the scene is brought to life.
I record this as an observation about the word order: the verse does not say "he built the ark", it says "he was building it" — and immediately after comes kullamā (every time). What is described, that is, is not a single event but a scene that repeats.
That the particle kullamā reports repetition was treated at Nūḥ 71/7, and I rely on that treatment. There too the same particle described a settled reflex.
| Place | What follows kullamā |
|---|---|
| Nūḥ 71/7 | daʿawtuhum — Noah calls, and they flee |
| Hūd 11/38 | marra ʿalayhi malaʾun — they pass by, and Noah works |
The direction is reversed in the two sūras: in one Noah goes, in the other they come. And in both the outcome is the same.
The root س-خ-ر: to mock, to belittle; and to make subservient (taskhīr). The root has been treated in many places across this series.
And Noah's answer must be recorded, because it is out of the ordinary: in taskharū minnā fa-innā naskharu minkum. The messenger says he will meet mockery with mockery.
But the continuation of the sentence defines what he means, and the definition matters: fa-sawfa taʿlamūna man yaʾtīhi ʿadhābun yukhzīh. What he calls "mockery", that is, is that what is laughed at today will be reversed tomorrow.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the adjacency of the two verses: Noah frames no counter-insult; he reports a difference in time. And the Qurʾān builds the same structure elsewhere — the laughter of the believers in the hereafter (al-Muṭaffifīn 83/34, treated in al-Muṭaffifīn). I rely on that treatment.
And this pair will return word for word in Shuʿayb's mouth: sawfa taʿlamūna man yaʾtīhi ʿadhābun yukhzīh (93). This is a repetition that can be verified from the text, and it will be tabulated in its place.