al-Naḥl 16:22-23 commentary

16/22-23

إِلَٰهُكُمْ إِلَٰهٌ وَٰحِدٌ فَٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ قُلُوبُهُم مُّنكِرَةٌ وَهُم مُّسْتَكْبِرُونَ · لَا جَرَمَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُسْتَكْبِرِينَ

Ilāhukum ilāhun wāḥid, fa'lladhīna lā yuʾminūna bi'l-ākhirati qulūbuhum munkiratun wa hum mustakbirūn · Lā jarama anna'llāha yaʿlamu mā yusirrūna wa mā yuʿlinūn, innahū lā yuḥibbu'l-mustakbirīn

"Your god is one god. As for those who do not believe in the hereafter, their hearts are in denial and they make themselves great. · Beyond doubt God knows what they conceal and what they make known. He does not love those who make themselves great."

The diagnosis: the problem is not knowledge

The verse says two things about those who deny the hereafter, and the two lie on different planes:

Expression	Where	What
Qulūbuhum munkira	Within	A heart that does not accept
Wa hum mustakbirūn	Without	The conduct of self-magnifying

And the order of the two clauses must be recorded: first the heart, then the conduct. The verse ranks conduct as an outcome of the heart.

I give this as an observation, and its ground is the order of the clauses: the verse does not name denial as a want of knowledge. Both diagnoses have to do not with knowledge but with disposition.

لَا جَرَمَ — the form itself

Lā jarama occurs in five places in the Qurʾān, and the lexicographers differ over the origin of the form.

View	How lā jarama is built
1	The negative lā + jarama (to cut) — "certain, unavoidable"
2	A frozen formula of oath or emphasis — "beyond doubt, assuredly"
3	A statement of necessity, like lā budda

In point of meaning all three come out at the same place: certainty. I do not impose a preference.

And this construction will occur twice in the sūra: here and in the sixty-second verse (lā jarama anna lahumu'l-nār). This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra.

The repetition of the nineteenth verse

It must be recorded: the sentence yaʿlamu mā tusirrūna wa mā tuʿlinūn occurred in the nineteenth verse. In the twenty-third it returns in almost the same words — the only difference being the change of person:

Verse	Expression	Person
19	Mā tusirrūna wa mā tuʿlinūn	Second person — you
23	Mā yusirrūna wa mā yuʿlinūn	Third person — they

This is a repetition that can be verified from the text. And I record this as my own reading: the same sentence is said first to the general addressee, then to a particular group. The ruling is laid down first for everyone, then applied to those who hold a certain stance.