al-Ḥijr 15:87 commentary

15/87

وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَٰكَ سَبْعًا مِّنَ ٱلْمَثَانِى وَٱلْقُرْءَانَ ٱلْعَظِيمَ

Wa laqad ātaynāka sabʿan mina'l-mathānī wa'l-Qurʾāna'l-ʿaẓīm

"We have given you seven of the paired ones and the mighty Qurʾān."

مَثَانِى — root: ث-ن-ي

The root was analysed at al-Zumar 39/23, and what was recorded there holds here too; I rely on that treatment:

ث-ن-ي: to fold, to double, to repeat. And in al-Zumar three readings were set out in a table for what the word mathānī corresponds to:

Reading	What mathānī is
1	Repeated — the recurrence of the stories, the rulings, the warnings
2	In pairs — its coming in couples such as garden and fire, glad tidings and warning
3	Folded — coming section by section, one upon another

In al-Zumar no preference was made among these three readings; I make none here either.

The difference between al-Zumar and al-Ḥijr must be recorded, and it is important:

Place	Construction	What mathānī qualifies
al-Zumar 39/23	Kitāban mutashābihan mathāniya	The whole of the Book
al-Ḥijr 15/87	Sabʿan mina'l-mathānī	A part of the mathānī — seven

That is, in al-Zumar the word is an attribute of the whole, in al-Ḥijr the source of a part. The particle must be recorded: min here conveys partitiveness (tabʿīḍ).

What is "seven"? — the disagreement

In the classical commentaries the following views are chiefly transmitted about this construction:

View	What sabʿan mina'l-mathānī is	Its ground
1	Sūrat al-Fātiḥa — seven verses	Al-Fātiḥa is seven verses and is repeated in the prayer; mathānī means "repeated"
2	The seven long sūras (al-sabʿu'l-ṭiwāl)	The longest sūras of the Qurʾān are counted as a group
3	The whole of the Qurʾān — mathānī is its name, and "seven" states its divisions	At al-Zumar 39/23 the whole Book is called mathānī
4	Seven subjects or seven pairs repeated in the Qurʾān	The "in pairs" reading of mathānī

All four views are transmitted in the sources. I do not impose a preference.

There are two linguistic data that can be recorded, and I give them as observations:

One. Sabʿan is indefinite and without a specifier — the question "seven what?" is not answered in the sentence. The verse gives the number and not the thing numbered. This is the source of the disagreement.

Two. There is a conjunction in the sentence: wa'l-Qurʾāna'l-ʿaẓīm. Disagreement arises over the function of the conjunction as well:

Reading	The work of the conjunction
a	Separating — the seven are one thing, the Qurʾān another
b	Explanatory (ʿaṭf al-bayān) — the seven are the Qurʾān itself
c	A reference from part to whole — after the part is named, the whole is named

All three are possible; I do not impose a preference.

Sūrat al-Fātiḥa was treated in the index at al-Fātiḥa; the number of its verses and the question of counting the basmala were taken up there. I rely on that treatment.

The verse's place within the sūra

I record an observation about the word order: the verse prepares the command of the eighty-eighth verse. First what has been given is named, then it is said "do not look at what is in another's hand". Had the sequence been reversed, the command would have stood bare.