وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ فِى شِيَعِ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ · وَمَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُوا۟ بِهِۦ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ · كَذَٰلِكَ نَسْلُكُهُۥ فِى قُلُوبِ ٱلْمُجْرِمِينَ · لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِۦ ۖ وَقَدْ خَلَتْ سُنَّةُ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ
Wa laqad arsalnā min qablika fī shiyaʿi'l-awwalīn · Wa mā yaʾtīhim min rasūlin illā kānū bihi yastahziʾūn · Kadhālika naslukuhu fī qulūbi'l-mujrimīn · Lā yuʾminūna bihi wa qad khalat sunnatu'l-awwalīn
"We sent messengers before you among the parties of the ancients. · No messenger came to them but they mocked him. · Thus do We insert it into the hearts of the guilty. · They do not believe in it; yet the way of the ancients has passed."
The plural of shīʿa. The root ش-ي-ع: to follow someone, to go after him; and from this, a body of partisans. Tashyīʿ (seeing someone off) is from this root too: going after someone.
The word was treated at al-Rūm 30/32 (wa lā takūnū mina'l-mushrikīn… wa kānū shiyaʿā). I rely on that treatment.
The س-ل-ك root: to pass a thing through a narrow place, to insert as one threads a needle. Salaka'l-khayṭa fī'l-ibra — he threaded the thread through the needle. That is, the verb recounts a thing's being passed through somewhere.
| Reading | What the pronoun returns to | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The mocking (istihzāʾ) | Mockery is inserted into their hearts thus |
| 2 | The reminder / the Qurʾān | The text enters their hearts but they do not believe |
| 3 | The denial | Denial settles thus |
And the continuation of the verse lends itself to the second reading: lā yuʾminūna bihi — the same pronoun is repeated. I record this as a supporting indication, not as a preference.
The voice of the verb must be recorded: naslaku — first person plural, active. This is a pattern treated in several places in the index (the sealing at al-Baqara 2/7, the turning aside of hearts at al-Ṣaff 61/5). I rely on those treatments, and what was recorded there holds here too: the verb recounts not a beginning but the registering of the end of a process — the order of the verses shows this, because the mocking is named first.
The س-ن-ن root: to make a thing flow smoothly, to open a way. Sunna — an opened road, one that is walked upon. The root was treated at al-Fatḥ 48/23 (sunnatallāh), and a boundary was set there per the method (Method): the application of the concept to contemporary events is not entered into. I rely on that treatment.
The verb must be recorded: khalat — "it has passed, it has been left behind." That is, the way is named not as a rule but as something that has happened.