al-Isrāʾ 17:89-93 — The demands as they are listed

Wa laqad ṣarrafnā li'l-nāsi fī hādha'l-qurʾāni min kulli mathalin fa-abā aktharu'l-nāsi illā kufūrā · Wa qālū lan nuʾmina laka ḥattā tafjura lanā mina'l-arḍi yanbūʿā · Aw takūna laka jannatun min nakhīlin wa ʿinabin fa-tufajjira'l-anhāra khilālahā tafjīrā · Aw tusqiṭa'l-samāʾa kamā zaʿamta ʿalaynā kisafan aw taʾtiya bi'llāhi wa'l-malāʾikati qabīlā · Aw yakūna laka baytun min zukhrufin aw tarqā fi'l-samāʾ, wa lan nuʾmina li-ruqiyyika ḥattā tunazzila ʿalaynā kitāban naqraʾuh, qul subḥāna rabbī hal kuntu illā basharan rasūlā

"We have turned about, over and over, every kind of likeness for people in this Qurʾān; but most people persisted in ingratitude. They said: 'We will never believe you until you make a spring gush forth for us from the earth. Or until you have a garden of date palms and vines and make rivers run gushing through it. Or until you make the sky fall on us in pieces, as you have claimed, or bring God and the angels before us. Or until you have a house of gold, or you ascend into the sky — and we will never believe in your ascent until you bring down to us a book we can read.' Say: 'Glory to my Lord! Am I anything but a mortal, a messenger?'"

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the order of the demands: the demands begin with a material need (water) and swell towards what is impossible (bringing God). And the last demand asks once more for the very thing that has been given — a book.

At the end of the list, that is, what is asked for is what they already hold. This is an observation that can be verified from the text: those addressed are asking for a kitāb, and what is recited to them is a book.

Demands of the same kind were treated at 25/7-8 and 25/21 in al-Furqān (an angel, a treasure, a garden; then aw narā rabbanā) and it was recorded there: the demand moves from rejecting the intermediary to making the absence of an intermediary a condition. I rely on that treatment.

The two sūras can be compared:

I give this as my own reading: the list in al-Isrāʾ goes a step beyond the demand in al-Furqān — not to see, but to have Him brought.

There is a qualification in the third demand: kamā zaʿamta — "as you have claimed".

I record this as an observation: those who make the demand derive their demand from the text's own expressions. The falling of pieces from the sky, that is, had been named earlier as a warning (nusqiṭ ʿalayhim kisafan mina'l-samāʾ was treated at 34/9 in Sabaʾ). Those addressed take that warning and turn it into a demand.

And the verb zaʿamta had occurred in the fifty-sixth verse too (alladhīna zaʿamtum min dūnih) — there in the mouth of the text, here in the mouth of those addressed. The same verb, on both sides. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

The answer must be recorded, and it is in two parts:

And the construction is worth recording: basharan rasūlā — "a mortal who is a messenger". Two words side by side; bashar first, rasūl after.

I record this as my own reading, and its support is the order of the words: the answer does not reject the messengership — it puts the humanity first. The things demanded are not things a human being can do; and this is exactly what the answer says.

And the same structure was treated at 25/20 in al-Furqān (wa mā arsalnā qablaka mina'l-mursalīna illā innahum la-yaʾkulūna'l-ṭaʿām) — it was recorded there: the answer does not reject the objection's description; it confirms it and makes it general. I rely on that treatment.

And a link with the sūra's first verse can be drawn. I give this as my own reading, and its support is the first words of the two verses: the sūra had opened with subḥāna'lladhī asrā bi-ʿabdihi — the most extraordinary event, with the attribute of servant. In the ninety-third verse the same word (subḥāna) comes this time in the Prophet's mouth, and again with a statement of limit: basharan rasūlā.

The sūra does the same work at its opening and in the ninety-third verse: it gives the exalting to God and the ordinariness to the messenger.