أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ بِٱلْحَقِّ ۚ إِن يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ وَيَأْتِ بِخَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ · وَمَا ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ بِعَزِيزٍ
Alam tara anna'llāha khalaqa's-samāwāti wa'l-arḍa bi'l-ḥaqq · In yashaʾ yudhhibkum wa yaʾti bi-khalqin jadīd · Wa mā dhālika ʿala'llāhi bi-ʿazīz
"Have you not seen that God created the heavens and the earth with truth? If He wills He can take you away and bring a new creation. · And that is no hard thing for God."
| Verse | What alam tara is looking at |
|---|---|
| 19 | Creation's being with truth |
| 24 | The parable of the two trees |
| 28 | Those who exchange the favour for denial |
I record this as an observation about the word order: three lookings open the last three blocks of the sūra — one at the universe, one at a parable, one at a community. And in all three the verb is a verb of seeing, yet the second and the third are not things to be seen with the eye. That is, ruʾya here means "to grasp, to become aware", and the lexicographers name this ruʾya qalbiyya.
The root ح-ق-ق has been treated in many places in the series (in detail in al-Ḥāqqa by way of the sūra's name; the core of the root is to be in its right place, to be fixed and real). I do not repeat it here.
Its function here must be recorded: the note bi'l-ḥaqq conveys that the creation was with a purpose and by a measure. And the sentence that comes immediately after is the consequence of this: if the creating is with a purpose, then a generation that does not carry the purpose can be replaced.
The sentence is a conditional structure, and the conditional particle is in (not law). This difference must be recorded: in Arabic law conveys a condition that has not come about, while in conveys a possible condition.
That is, the verse is not recounting "something that will not happen"; it leaves the possibility open.
The same sentence occurs at Fāṭir 35/16-17 in almost the same words (in yashaʾ yudhhibkum wa yaʾti bi-khalqin jadīd · wa mā dhālika ʿala'llāhi bi-ʿazīz). Two sentences identical word for word in two sūras — this is a repetition that can be verified, and it was treated in the section on Fāṭir. I rely on that treatment.
بِعَزِيزٍ — and the word is worth recording: in the first and fourth verses of the sūra al-ʿAzīz had occurred as a name of God. Here the same word is used of a task: "this is not ʿazīz (hard, beyond power) for God."
That is, the same word means in one place "the one who cannot be withstood" and in the other "what cannot be coped with". I record this as an observation about the word: the core of the root (ع-ز-ز — firmness, difficulty, rarity) carries both usages.