al-Naḥl 16:8 commentary

16/8

وَٱلْخَيْلَ وَٱلْبِغَالَ وَٱلْحَمِيرَ لِتَرْكَبُوهَا وَزِينَةً وَيَخْلُقُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

Wa'l-khayla wa'l-bighāla wa'l-ḥamīra li-tarkabūhā wa zīnah, wa yakhluqu mā lā taʿlamūn

"And horses, mules and donkeys — for you to ride, and as adornment. And He creates what you do not know."

Three animals, two purposes

The sentence enumerates two purposes, and the two come in different grammatical forms:

Purpose	Expression	Form
1	Li-tarkabūhā	Lām + verb — for you to ride
2	Wa zīnatan	A noun in the accusative — as adornment

The lexicographers dwell on the case of the second word (whether it is a causal object, or governed by an elided verb). But in point of meaning there is no difference, and what must be recorded is this: the work done in the sixth verse with jamāl (beauty) is repeated here with zīna (adornment).

The lexicographers give the difference between the two words thus, and I transmit it: jamāl is beauty residing in the thing itself; zīna is an adornment added, laid over it. In the sixth verse, then, the sight of the animal is named; here, the appearance the animal lends its owner. I give this distinction as a tendency the lexicographers record, not as an absolute rule.

وَيَخْلُقُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ — the leaving open of the list

This is one of the most striking sentences in the sūra, and it must be handled with care.

The verse enumerated three animals. Then it did not close the list.

This structure was treated in detail in this commentary, and I rely on it: at Yāsīn, 36/36 (subḥāna'lladhī khalaqa'l-azwāja kullahā mimmā tunbitu'l-arḍu wa min anfusihim wa mimmā lā yaʿlamūn) the following was recorded:

"The third item comes in the same grammatical structure as the first two — the same min, the same mā. It is enumerated as a part of the list, with full standing. But its content is not given." "The verse has deliberately left the third item unfilled. To fill it with the knowledge of any one period breaks the work the verse plainly does — for the moment it is filled, the item ceases to be 'what they do not know'."

And in the Yā Sīn section this verse (al-Naḥl 16/8) was already named. I close the ring from this end.

The difference that belongs here must be recorded, and the two verses are not doing the same thing:

	Yā Sīn 36/36	al-Naḥl 16/8
The kind of sentence	*Glorification* — subḥāna'lladhī	Enumeration — a list of favours
Who does not know	Lā yaʿlamūn — third person	Lā taʿlamūn — the one addressed: you
What is left open	The third source of the pairs created	The continuation of the mounts created
The tense of the verb	Khalaqa — perfect	*Wa yakhluqu* — imperfect

The difference of tense is the most important, and I record this as my own reading: in Yā Sīn the creating is named as done and finished; in al-Naḥl, wa yakhluqu — it is still going on. The list is therefore left open here not merely from a want of knowledge but because the work continues.

And the difference of person must be recorded second: in Yā Sīn those who do not know are "they" — a group being described. In al-Naḥl the one who does not know is the addressee himself: "you." The sentence states the limit of the reader's own knowledge.

A note required by the method (Method)

This sentence is one of the places often used for claims of scientific miracle: filling the phrase "things you do not know" with the vehicles known today, with technology, or with some other phenomenon is a widespread interpretation.

This commentary does not take that road, and the reason is the same as the one written in Yāsīn: the moment the item is filled it ceases to be "what you do not know". The force of the sentence comes not from its content but from its having been left empty.

I add this as my own reading, and my ground is the enumeration as a whole: the eighteenth verse will say lā tuḥṣūhā (you cannot count them). The eighth verse shows how that ruling is possible: the list does not close, that it might be counted.