وَلَوْ فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَابًا مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ فَظَلُّوا۟ فِيهِ يَعْرُجُونَ · لَقَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا سُكِّرَتْ أَبْصَٰرُنَا بَلْ نَحْنُ قَوْمٌ مَّسْحُورُونَ
Wa law fataḥnā ʿalayhim bāban mina'l-samāʾi fa-ẓallū fīhi yaʿrujūn · La-qālū innamā sukkirat abṣārunā bal naḥnu qawmun masḥūrūn
"Even if We opened a gate to them from the sky and they kept climbing up through it, · they would surely say: 'Our eyes have been dazzled; no, we are a people bewitched.'"
The sentence is built with a law (a condition unrealised), and this is the same structure treated at Fuṣṣilat 41/44: "what would they say had it been otherwise?" I rely on that treatment.
The difference here is this, and it must be recorded: in Fuṣṣilat the assumed change was the language of the Book. Here what is assumed is that the requested miracle is given in excess.
In the seventh verse the angels had been demanded. Here they are given the possibility of climbing into the sky — something beyond the demand. And the answer is again an objection.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the order of the two verses: the sūra does not content itself with refusing the demand. It also shows what would happen if the demand were met — and what it shows is that the proof would this time be referred to perception: "our eyes have been dazzled."
| Root | Sense | Result |
|---|---|---|
| س-ك-ر (intoxication) | The eyes were made drunk, they swam | Sight was disordered |
| س-ك-ر (closing off; sakara'l-nahr — to dam a river) | The eyes were closed off, veiled | Sight was blocked |
Both explanations are transmitted; I do not impose a preference. And it must be recorded that both senses are counted branches of the same root: intoxication is the "closing" of the mind.
The particle bal is used in Arabic to turn from what has been said and state something more decisive (iḍrāb).
A point of word order must be recorded: in the first sentence the verb was passive and the object was "our eyes" — a partial disorder. In the second sentence the subject becomes "we" and the attribute covers the whole: qawmun masḥūrūn — a bewitched people.
I record this as an observation: the objection magnifies itself. And the point reached is this: in order not to accept what he sees, a person sacrifices his own perception.
And the word masḥūr carries an echo: the same attribute is used in the Qurʾān in the accusations directed at the Prophet. Here the other side uses it of itself. A similar usage was treated at al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/153 (innamā anta mina'l-musaḥḥarīn). I rely on that treatment.