تَٱللَّهِ لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَآ إِلَىٰٓ أُمَمٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ فَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ أَعْمَٰلَهُمْ فَهُوَ وَلِيُّهُمُ ٱلْيَوْمَ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ · وَمَآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ إِلَّا لِتُبَيِّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلَّذِى ٱخْتَلَفُوا۟ فِيهِ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ
Ta'llāhi laqad arsalnā ilā umamin min qablika fa-zayyana lahumu'l-shayṭānu aʿmālahum fa-huwa waliyyuhumu'l-yawma wa lahum ʿadhābun alīm · Wa mā anzalnā ʿalayka'l-kitāba illā li-tubayyina lahumu'lladhi'khtalafū fīhi wa hudan wa raḥmatan li-qawmin yuʾminūn
"By God, We sent messengers to communities before you; but Satan made their deeds seem fair to them. Today too he is their patron, and for them there is a painful punishment. · We sent down the Book to you only that you might make clear to them that over which they differed, and as guidance and mercy for a people who believe."
The root ز-ي-ن and the verb tazyīn were treated at many places in this commentary, and a pattern was recorded there: at Fāṭir, 35/8, and at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin), 40/37, the verb came in the passive — the one who made things seem fair was not named.
This is a difference that must be recorded, and I give it as an observation: the same verb comes in some places without an agent and in others with one. And even where the agent is named, man's responsibility is not lifted — for the verse says fa-huwa waliyyuhum: the patronage is a relationship that has been accepted.
It must be recorded: the sentence li-yubayyina lahumu'lladhī yakhtalifūna fīh occurred in the thirty-ninth verse — there the subject was God and the time was the hereafter.
In the sixty-fourth the same sentence returns with the subject changed: li-tubayyina lahumu'lladhi'khtalafū fīh — the subject is the Prophet, the time this world.
| Verse | Verb | Subject | Tense | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | Li-yubayyina | God | Yakhtalifūna — imperfect, still going on | In the hereafter |
| 64 | Li-tubayyina | The Prophet | Ikhtalafū — perfect, done | In this world |
The difference of tense must be recorded, and I give it as my own reading: in the thirty-ninth verse the disagreement is something still going on; in the sixty-fourth something already over. The Book, then, is for making clear a disagreement that ought to have been settled; the hereafter, for closing the one that goes on.
This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra, and the root's series in the sūra has five links (39, 44, 64, 89, 92) — all five from the root ب-ي-ن, and all five tying the work of making clear to a different subject or to a different time.