al-Isrāʾ 17:105-109

Wa bi'l-ḥaqqi anzalnāhu wa bi'l-ḥaqqi nazal, wa mā arsalnāka illā mubashshiran wa nadhīrā · Wa qurʾānan faraqnāhu li-taqraʾahu ʿala'l-nāsi ʿalā mukthin wa nazzalnāhu tanzīlā · Qul āminū bihi aw lā tuʾminū, inna'lladhīna ūtu'l-ʿilma min qablihi idhā yutlā ʿalayhim yakhirrūna li'l-adhqāni sujjadā · Wa yaqūlūna subḥāna rabbinā in kāna waʿdu rabbinā la-mafʿūlā · Wa yakhirrūna li'l-adhqāni yabkūna wa yazīduhum khushūʿā

"We sent it down with the truth, and with the truth it came down. We sent you only as a bearer of good news and a warner. And a Qurʾān We divided into parts, that you might recite it to people slowly; and We sent it down by stages. Say: 'Believe in it or do not believe.' Those who were given knowledge before it, when it is recited to them, fall down upon their chins in prostration and say: 'Glory to our Lord! Our Lord's promise is surely fulfilled.' They fall down upon their chins weeping, and it increases them in humility."

The sentence uses the same construction twice, and the voice of the two verbs differs:

I record this as an observation about the structure: the same event is told from two directions — its being sent down, and its coming down. And both sentences carry the same qualification: bi'l-ḥaqq. Neither in the sender nor on the way, that is, has anything changed.

This verse was already named at 43/77 in al-Zukhruf (innakum mākithūn) in connection with the word mukth — it was recorded there: the root م-ك-ث is "to stay in a place, to wait, to linger; to remain without haste", and the phrase ʿalā mukthin at al-Isrāʾ 17/106 was tabulated as "to recite slowly, without haste". I rely on that treatment.

And in the introduction to al-Najm this verse was quoted as the sentence showing the Qurʾān's coming down piece by piece. I rely on that too.

فَرَقْنَٰهُ — root ف-ر-ق: to separate, to divide. The root was treated at 25/1 in al-Furqān in connection with the name of that sūra (al-Furqān — that which distinguishes) and occurred at 44/4 in al-Dukhān (yufraqu kullu amrin ḥakīm). I do not repeat it here.

And the usage here must be recorded, and the difference is large:

The same root, once for the work of the content and once for the form of the text. I record this as my own reading: the Book's function of distinguishing and its coming down piece by piece are named by the same root.

And at 25/32-33 in al-Furqān the grounds for this manner of descent were tabulated: li-nuthabbita bihi fuʾādak (to make the heart firm) and wa rattalnāhu tartīlā (to recite it slowly). al-Isrāʾ adds a third ground to the same fact: li-taqraʾahu ʿala'l-nās — that it be recited to people.

Three grounds, three separate parties. This is a weave between sūras that can be verified.

And the same command of slowness was treated at 73/4 in al-Muzzammil (wa rattili'l-qurʾāna tartīlā). I rely on that treatment: four verses around the same tempo.

"Say: 'Believe in it or do not believe.'"

The construction of the sentence must be recorded, and this is the last link on the sūra's axis of responsibility.

I give this as my own reading, and its support is the form of the command: the sentence is in the imperative but offers two options. In Arabic this is a pattern that conveys unconcern for which is taken.

And a link with the fifteenth verse can be drawn: mani'htadā fa-innamā yahtadī li-nafsih. The sūra reduces the principle it laid down in the fifteenth verse to a single sentence ninety-two verses later.

The same pattern was treated at 41/40 in Fuṣṣilat (iʿmalū mā shiʾtum). I rely on that treatment.

This is the prostration verse of the sūra (it is repeated in verse 109).

أَذْقَان — the chins. Dhaqan — the chin.

I record this as an observation, and its support is the concrete sense of the word: the verse does not say "on their foreheads". It says "on their chins" — that is, the most forward point of the face, the first place to touch the ground. A detail conveying that the falling is sudden and uncontrolled.

The root خ-ر-ر was treated at 19/58 and 19/90 in Maryam, and two uses of the same verb were tabulated there (kharrū sujjadan wa bukiyyā — service; takhirru'l-jibālu haddā — ruin). And it occurred with a qualification at 25/73 in al-Furqān: lam yakhirrū ʿalayhā ṣumman wa ʿumyānā — "they do not fall down upon them deaf and blind."

Four verses can now be set side by side, and the circle closes:

And the overlap between al-Isrāʾ and Maryam 19/58 is worth recording: in both, prostration and weeping are named together. This is an overlap between sūras that can be verified.

And al-Isrāʾ's own addition must be recorded: wa yazīduhum khushūʿā — "and it increases them in humility."

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the sūra's own repetition: the verb yazīdu had been used four times in the sūra with a negative outcome (41, 46, 60, 82) — taking fright and fleeing, insolence, loss. The hundred and ninth verse uses the same verb for the first time with a positive outcome.

The same verb, five times — and the last occurrence changes direction. This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra, and it makes concrete the principle of the eighty-second verse (the same text, two outcomes).

خُشُوع — root خ-ش-ع: to be lowered, to bow, the dropping of the voice. The root was analysed in detail at 23/2 in al-Muʾminūn (alladhīna hum fī ṣalātihim khāshiʿūn) — the root's branch of "dried-out, sunken ground" was recorded there as well — and it was treated at 2/45 in al-Baqara (wa innahā la-kabīratun illā ʿala'l-khāshiʿīn). I rely on those treatments.