Hūd 11:62-63

qālū yā Ṣāliḥu qad kunta fīnā marjuwwan qabla hādhā, a-tanhānā an naʿbuda mā yaʿbudu ābāʾunā wa innanā la-fī shakkin mimmā tadʿūnā ilayhi murīb · qāla yā qawmi a-raʾaytum in kuntu ʿalā bayyinatin min rabbī wa ātānī minhu raḥmatan fa-man yanṣurunī mina'llāhi in ʿaṣaytuh, fa-mā tazīdūnanī ghayra takhsīr

"They said: 'Ṣāliḥ! Before this you were one among us in whom hope was placed. Are you now forbidding us to serve what our fathers served? We are in disquieting doubt about what you call us to.' · He said: 'My people! Tell me: what if I stand on a clear proof from my Lord, and He has given me a mercy from Himself? If I disobeyed Him, who would help me against God? You would add nothing to me but loss.'"

The root ر-ج-و: to hope, to expect. Marjuww — a passive participle: one in whom hope is placed, one who is looked to.

This expression occurs in the Qurʾān only here, and it is a rare entry reporting a prophet's social standing before his call.

I record this as an observation: the people saw Ṣāliḥ, before his call, in a high place, and they admit it. The objection, that is, does not arise from a mistrust of the man but from what he says.

And this is the reverse of the objection in the twenty-seventh verse: there Noah was told "you are a human being like us"; here Ṣāliḥ is told "you were one we set our hopes on". Two peoples, two different grounds, the same outcome. This is a difference that can be verified from the text.

This objection is one of the most repeated objections in the Qurʾān, and it has been treated across this series:

• al-Zukhruf 43/22-23 — innā wajadnā ābāʾanā ʿalā ummatin wa innā ʿalā āthārihim muhtadūn; there the sense of umma as "the line followed" was tabulated and the structure of the argument worked out. I rely on that treatment.
• Luqmān 31/21 — bal nattabiʿu mā wajadnā ʿalayhi ābāʾanā. I rely on that treatment.
• al-Shuʿarāʾ — the answer of Abraham's people (26/74).

What belongs here is that the objection comes in the form of a question: a-tanhānā.

I record this as an observation about the word order: in al-Zukhruf and in Luqmān the argument from the forefathers was a statement ("we found our fathers thus"). In Hūd it takes the form of an accusation: "are you forbidding us?"

And the same form will recur with Shuʿayb's people: a-ṣalātuka taʾmuruka an natruka mā yaʿbudu ābāʾunā (87). Two peoples, the same structure: a question plus the forefathers plus a verb. This is an overlap that can be verified from the text, and it will be tabulated in its place.

The root ش-ك-ك: doubt. The lexicographers attach the root to the idea of "piercing through a thing" — two possibilities running into one another.

The root ر-ي-ب: misgiving, a doubt that leaves one uneasy. The root was treated at al-Baqara 2/2 (lā rayba fīh).

And the coming together of the two words is worth recording: shakkin murīb — "a doubt that disquiets".

The lexicographers count this construction an intensification. And the distinction recorded in the al-Baqara section is useful here: rayb is not merely a lack of knowledge but a doubt that produces unease.

And the construction occurs three times in the sūra:

This is a repetition that can be verified from the text, and it will be treated separately at 11/110.

The root خ-س-ر was treated above (11/22). The pattern here is the verbal noun of Form II: takhsīr — "to bring to loss".

And the construction of the sentence must be recorded: mā tazīdūnanī ghayra takhsīr — "you would add nothing to me but loss".

The verb is a verb of ziyāda (increase), and its object is takhsīr (diminution). The sentence, that is, brings two opposed words together: what you add is a subtraction.

I record this as an observation about the language; it is a stylistic subtlety well known in Arabic, and it gives the sentence an edge.