كَمَآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَى ٱلْمُقْتَسِمِينَ · ٱلَّذِينَ جَعَلُوا۟ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ عِضِينَ · فَوَرَبِّكَ لَنَسْـَٔلَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ · عَمَّا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ
Kamā anzalnā ʿalā'l-muqtasimīn · Alladhīna jaʿalū'l-Qurʾāna ʿiḍīn · Fa-wa Rabbika la-nasʾalannahum ajmaʿīn · ʿAmmā kānū yaʿmalūn
"Just as We sent down upon those who divided it among themselves · — those who made the Qurʾān into pieces. · By your Lord, We shall surely question them all · — about what they were doing."
The lexicographers differ over what the sentence attaches to, and this is the most disputed aspect of the verse:
| Reading | The attachment | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | To verse 87 | We gave you, just as We sent down upon those who divided |
| 2 | To verse 89 | "I am a clear warner" — just like the warning We sent down upon those who divided |
| 3 | On its own | We sent down punishment upon them (anzalnā here for punishment) |
The ق-س-م root: to divide, to apportion. Form VIII (iqtisām) conveys reciprocity and effort: "they divided it among themselves."
Different explanations of who is meant are transmitted in the classical commentaries — a past community, or a group in Mecca who shared out the roads among themselves in order to meet those who came. I ascribe it to no particular event or name, because I do not write a report of which I am not certain.
The word's echo within the sūra must be recorded: in the forty-fourth verse juzʾun maqsūm had occurred — the share allotted to the gates of hell. The same root, one the people's own dividing and one the share allotted to them. I record this as a weave within the sūra, and it can be verified.
| Root | Sense | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ع-ض-و | ʿUḍw — a limb, a member; ʿiḍa — a piece | They broke the Qurʾān into pieces |
| ع-ض-ه | ʿIḍh — calumny, lie, sorcery | They slandered the Qurʾān (saying "it is sorcery, it is poetry") |
There is a datum of word order that can be recorded, and I give it as an observation: the word is in the same sentence as muqtasimīn (those who divided). Read according to the first root, the two words repeat the same idea: the dividers divided. I give this as a supporting indication, not as a preference.
I record this as an observation about the word order: the verse puts the question in one sentence and its answer in a separate verse. And what is asked about is not speech but act. Yet what is recounted in these verses was a speech — what they said about the Qurʾān. That is, the verse asks by counting saying as a deed too.