19. Sūrat Maryam

98 verses. It is widely reported that it was revealed in the Meccan period. It takes its name from Mary (Maryam), whose account is given in verses 16-34.

This name occurs sixteen times in the sūra — in no sūra of the Qurʾān is it this dense. And its distribution is regular: in the account of Zechariah, in Mary's taking refuge (innī aʿūdhu bi'r-Raḥmāni minka), in what Abraham says to his father, and in the last block as the subject of the claim.

I record this as my own reading: in telling the accounts the sūra keeps using the same name; and in the last block it takes up the claim directed at that name (88: wa qālu'ttakhadha'r-Raḥmānu waladā). The accounts have thus prepared the answer to the claim in advance.

"Kāf-hā-yā-ʿayn-ṣād. This is the remembrance of your Lord's mercy to His servant Zechariah. When he called upon his Lord with a hidden voice: 'My Lord! My bones have grown weak, my head has caught fire with old age; and in calling upon You I have never been wretched.'"

The note on the disconnected letters has been entered many times in the series (al-Baqara, Qāf, al-Aḥqāf): there is no certain knowledge. I do not repeat it here.

The attribute of the prayer must be recorded: khafiyy — hidden, lowered.

I record this as an observation: before the content of the prayer, the verse says what its voice was. And the measure of the voice was treated in Luqmān 31/19 (ighḍuḍ min ṣawtik) and in al-Ḥujurāt 49/2-3; here the same measure is applied to prayer.

This is one of the most concentrated visual expressions in the Qurʾān, and the lexicographers dwell on it.

The root ش-ع-ل — analysed here for the first time in the series: to catch fire, to burst into flame. Shuʿla — a flame.

The construction of the image is worth recording: the verse does not say "my hair has turned white". The head is given as something that catches fire, and shayban (old age, greying) comes as a specifier (tamyīz): "the head caught fire in respect of greying."

I give this as my own reading: the image carries two things at once — the spreading of the whiteness (like fire passing from hair to hair) and its irreversibility (what has burned does not come back). And the verb's making the head its subject shows that the process is not in the person's hands.

وَهَنَ ٱلْعَظْمُ مِنِّى — the root و-ه-ن was analysed in Luqmān 31/14 and in al-ʿAnkabūt 29/41 (the loosening of strength). I do not repeat it here.

And al-ʿaẓm (bone) comes in the singular — the lexicographers count it a generic noun: the whole of what is called bone.

وَلَمْ أَكُنۢ بِدُعَآئِكَ رَبِّ شَقِيًّا — "in calling upon You I have never been wretched."

I record this as an observation: the sentence rests the ground of the request on past experience. The request is thus framed not as the assertion of a right but as the continuation of a relationship already under way.

"'O Zechariah! We give you good news of a boy whose name is John; before him We have made no one his namesake.' He said: 'My Lord! How shall I have a boy, when my wife is barren and I have reached the utmost limit of old age?'"

عِتِيًّا — root ع-ت-و: to overstep the limit; and to dry out and harden. The root was treated in al-Furqān 25/21 (wa ʿataw ʿutuwwan kabīrā), and there the sense the lexicographers record — "a plant's drying out and stiffening" — was given. I rely on that treatment.

And the use here is worth recording: the same root is used in al-Furqān for insolence, here for the last point of old age. The shared picture: drying out and hardening. I give this as an observation.

"So it shall be; I created you before, when you were nothing."

The form of the answer must be recorded: the objection is not rejected — it is set beside an earlier case.

And the same sentence will return in the sixty-seventh verse of the sūra: a-wa-lā yadhkuru'l-insānu annā khalaqnāhu min qablu wa lam yaku shayʾā — this time against the one who denies the resurrection.

The same proof, one against good news and one against an objection. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra, and it shows how the sūra binds the accounts to the claims.

ءَايَتُكَ أَلَّا تُكَلِّمَ ٱلنَّاسَ ثَلَٰثَ لَيَالٍ سَوِيًّا (10) — the sign is not being able to speak.

I record this as an observation: in the third verse the prayer was said to be hidden; and what is given as a sign also has to do with the voice. And in the eleventh verse Zechariah conveys his message to his people by a gesture: fa-awḥā ilayhim an sabbiḥū bukratan wa ʿashiyyā.

"'O John! Take hold of the Book with strength.' We gave him judgement while he was still a child; and from Our presence a tenderness of heart and a purity as well. He was one who guarded himself; he was good to his parents; he was not a tyrant, nor disobedient."

The root ح-ن-ن occurs here for the first time in the series, and the word ḥanān is found only here in the Qurʾān.

The sense the lexicographers give: tenderness, turning towards someone in mercy, longing and pity. A relation is recorded between the root and the sound a camel makes towards its young (ḥanīn) — a tenderness, that is, that comes out as sound.

I transmit this as a relation established by the lexicographers.

And the list of what is given is worth recording:

I record this as an observation: alongside the Book and judgement, tenderness too is counted as a gift. Knowledge of the text is thus not the whole of what is given.

وَلَمْ يَكُن جَبَّارًا عَصِيًّا — when the word jabbār is used of a human being it means one who compels; it was treated in Qāf 50/45 and in al-Ḥashr. I do not repeat it here.

Three days are counted: birth, death, resurrection.

And this sentence will return in the thirty-third verse of the sūra — this time from Jesus's own mouth: wa's-salāmu ʿalayya yawma wulidtu wa yawma amūtu wa yawma ubʿathu ḥayyā.

The two sentences are word for word the same; only the pronouns change. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra, and it is the sūra's way of binding the two accounts to one another.

I record this as my own reading: all three days are days not in a person's own hands — the day he is born, the day he dies, the day he is raised. The greeting of peace is placed precisely at the three points where no choice can be made.

"Mention Mary in the Book too: when she withdrew from her family to a place towards the east. She put a screen between herself and them. Then We sent Our spirit to her, and it appeared to her in the form of a well-made human being. Mary said: 'I take refuge in al-Raḥmān from you! If you are one who guards himself (do not come near me).'"

ٱنتَبَذَتْ — root ن-ب-ذ: to throw, to cast aside. Form VIII: to draw oneself aside. The root was treated in al-Baqara, al-Qalam and al-Humaza.

And the construction of the scene must be recorded: the withdrawal, the screen, then the coming. The one who comes, that is, comes into a closed place — and Mary's first response is a sentence of taking refuge.

إِنِّىٓ أَعُوذُ بِٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ مِنكَ — the name in which refuge is taken: al-Raḥmān.

I record this as an observation: the density of this name in the sūra was tabulated in the section on structure. And one of its first uses comes in a sentence of taking refuge, at a moment of fear. The name works not as a distant attribute but as a name that is called upon.

إِن كُنتَ تَقِيًّا — "if you are one who guards himself". The construction of the sentence is worth recording: Mary does not threaten the one before her; she appeals to his own measure.

قَالَ إِنَّمَآ أَنَا۠ رَسُولُ رَبِّكِ لِأَهَبَ لَكِ غُلَٰمًا زَكِيًّا — and the answer states his identity and his errand.

قَالَتْ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِى غُلَٰمٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِى بَشَرٌ وَلَمْ أَكُ بَغِيًّا — the same pattern as Zechariah's question: annā yakūnu lī ghulām.

The same question pattern, two different obstacles. And both answers carry the same expression: huwa ʿalayya hayyin (9) / huwa ʿalayya hayyin (21). This is a symmetry that can be verified within the sūra.

"She conceived him and withdrew with him to a far place. The pangs of birth drove her to the trunk of a date palm. 'Would that I had died before this and been altogether forgotten!' she said. He called to her from below her: 'Do not grieve! Your Lord has made a rivulet beneath you. Shake the trunk of the palm towards you, and fresh dates will fall upon you.'"

The verse transmits Mary's words as they are: yā laytanī mittu qabla hādhā. And nasyan mansiyyā — "a forgotten thing, forgotten".

I record this as an observation: the text gives the words of a chosen servant at her hardest moment without softening them. The same honesty was seen in al-Qaṣaṣ 28/15-16, in Moses's assessment of himself; I rely on that treatment.

The command itself is worth recording: a woman in the pangs of birth is told to shake the tree.

The root ه-ز-ز — occurring here for the first time in the series: to shake, to shake down. (In al-Zumar 39/21 and al-Ḥajj 22/5 it is used of the earth in the form ihtazzat.)

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the verb itself: the help is not given ready-made. The water has been made to flow beneath her, the dates are ready on the tree — but the act of shaking is asked of her. And shaking the trunk of a date palm is hard even for a healthy person.

The scene thus shows that divine help does not remove the human act. The same structure was present in the command given to the mother in al-Qaṣaṣ 28/7 (the riskiest act was asked of her); I rely on that treatment.

فَكُلِى وَٱشْرَبِى وَقَرِّى عَيْنًا — three commands: eat, drink, and let your eye be cooled. The idiom qarra ʿaynan was treated in al-Furqān 25/74 (the eye's coming to rest in one place and not straying). I rely on that treatment.

The link within the sūra must be recorded: to Zechariah, not being able to speak was given as a sign (10); Mary is commanded not to speak. The two accounts share the same element — and in both, someone else will speak in place of the one who falls silent.

"She brought him to her people, carrying him… Mary pointed to the child. 'How shall we speak with a child in the cradle?' they said. The child said: 'I am the servant of God. He has given me the Book and made me a prophet.'"

The first word of the sentence must be recorded: innī ʿabdu'llāh — "I am the servant of God."

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the structure of the sūra: in the eighty-eighth verse the sūra will take up the claim wa qālu'ttakhadha'r-Raḥmānu waladā (they said: al-Raḥmān has taken a child). And the first word out of the mouth of the person who is the subject of that claim is ʿabd.

The answer is thus given fifty-eight verses earlier, inside the account. This is a structure that can be verified from the text.

فَرِيًّا — root ف-ر-ي: to cut, to cut out; and to fabricate. The lexicographers explain the word here as "unheard of, astonishing" or "fabricated"; I transmit both readings.

يَٰٓأُخْتَ هَٰرُونَ — "O sister of Aaron (Hārūn)!"

Different explanations of this form of address are transmitted in the classical commentaries: that in Arabic a person may be named by attribution to a righteous or well-known figure, or that a relative of hers bore that name. I confine myself to transmitting the explanations; I issue no definite ruling.

And Jesus's words overlap with what was said about John:

There is overlap in four items, and in the third a single word changes. This is a symmetry that can be verified within the sūra.

And the difference in the second row is worth recording: for John wālidayh (his parents), for Jesus wālidatī (my mother). The text records with a single word the difference that arises from the account itself.

"That is Jesus son of Mary — the word of truth about which they are in doubt. It is not for God to take a child; He is far above that… Warn them of the day of regret, when the matter will be decided while they are in heedlessness."

A note per the method (Method): these verses issue no blanket ruling about a community. What is at issue is a claim, and the verse answers the claim itself. In this commentary no general ruling is issued about any religious group; what the verse describes is an attitude.

فَٱخْتَلَفَ ٱلْأَحْزَابُ مِنۢ بَيْنِهِمْ — "the parties fell into disagreement among themselves."

That the disagreement arose after the proof came was treated in al-Baqara 2/213, al-Shūrā 42/13-14 and al-Jāthiya 45/17. I rely on that treatment.

أَسْمِعْ بِهِمْ وَأَبْصِرْ يَوْمَ يَأْتُونَنَا (38) — "how well they will hear and how well they will see on the day they come to Us!"

The pattern must be recorded: in Arabic the form afʿil bihi conveys taʿajjub (astonishment).

I record this as an observation: the sentence is built like a praise, but the context says the opposite. And in Fuṣṣilat 41/5 the addressee's declaring himself deaf, and at 41/44 the confirmation of this, were treated. Here hearing and sight open precisely when the matter is over.

يَوْمَ ٱلْحَسْرَةِ — the day of regret. The root ح-س-ر was treated in al-Zumar 39/56 (yā ḥasratā) and in Fāṭir 35/8. I do not repeat it here.

And the name of the day is worth recording: the resurrection is named here not by an event but by a feeling that will be felt.

"Mention Abraham in the Book too… When he said to his father: 'Father dear! Why do you serve what does not hear, does not see, and is of no use to you at all?'"

Abraham's speech consists of four sentences, and each begins with the same form of address:

All four open with yā abati — and this is the pattern of the diminutive, of affection (the same pattern was treated for yā bunayya in Luqmān 31/13). The two sūras give the father-son conversation in the same pattern — one from father to son, the other from son to father.

I record this as my own reading: the order of Abraham's sentences is also striking — it begins with a question, continues with knowledge, goes on with a prohibition, and ends with fear. And in none of them is there an accusation.

إِنِّى قَدْ جَآءَنِى مِنَ ٱلْعِلْمِ مَا لَمْ يَأْتِكَ — "there has come to me knowledge that has not come to you."

The fineness of the sentence is worth recording: jāʾanī — "it came to me". The knowledge is thus named not as something he produced but as something that reached him. The same line was treated in al-Aḥqāf 46/9 (in attabiʿu illā mā yūḥā ilayy).

"'Are you turning away from my gods, O Abraham? If you do not desist I shall surely stone you. Keep away from me for a long while!'"

The form of the answer must be recorded: against four sentences, a threat and an expulsion.

And the form of address changes too: Abraham was saying yā abati (father dear); the father says yā Ibrāhīm. This is a difference that can be verified from the text.

And Abraham's answer is in three parts: a greeting of peace, a promise of prayer, a parting.

The same attitude was treated in al-Qaṣaṣ 28/55 and al-Furqān 25/63 (salāmun ʿalaykum lā nabtaghi'l-jāhilīn / qālū salāmā). In all three places the separation is sealed with a greeting of peace. I rely on that treatment.

I record this as my own reading: the one expelled departs saying that he will pray for the one who expels him. And the act of parting (aʿtazilukum) is given not as a response to the threat but as his own decision.

Wa'dhkur fi'l-kitābi Mūsā … wa nādaynāhu min jānibi'ṭ-Ṭūri'l-aymani wa qarrabnāhu najiyyā

"Mention Moses in the Book too… We called to him from the right side of the Mount, and We brought him near, to speak with him in secret."

نَجِيًّا — root ن-ج-و: to whisper together, to speak in secret. The root was treated in detail in al-Mujādala (najwā). I do not repeat it here.

And the link within the sūra must be recorded: in the third verse Zechariah's prayer was hidden (khafiyy). Here the speaking is hidden. The sūra keeps both directions in the same field: a hidden call and a hidden answer.

Ishmael's attribute is worth recording: kāna yaʾmuru ahlahu — "he would enjoin upon his family".

I record this as an observation: the attribute is given as a responsibility directed not at a wide community but at his own household. And in Luqmān 31/17 the same pair (prayer, and enjoining what is good) occurred in a father-son conversation.

وَرَفَعْنَٰهُ مَكَانًا عَلِيًّا (57) — of Idrīs. What the construction says has been debated in the classical commentaries; I confine myself to transmitting the explanations and issue no definite ruling.

This is the verse of prostration in the sūra.

Two states are named together: sujjadan wa bukiyyā — prostrating and weeping.

And in al-Furqān 25/73 the same verb (kharra) occurred with a qualification: lam yakhirrū ʿalayhā ṣumman wa ʿumyānā — "they do not fall down over them deaf and blind".

The same verb: one says how it should not be, the other how it is. This is an overlap between sūras that can be verified.

"After them came a generation who let the prayer go to waste and followed their appetites; they will meet the penalty of their straying."

خَلْف — root خ-ل-ف: to come after. The word carries a negative sense here, and the lexicographers record a difference in usage between khalf (a bad generation that comes after) and khalaf (a good successor). I transmit this distinction as the lexicographers give it.

أَضَاعُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ — iḍāʿa: to let go to waste, to lose. The verb is not "they abandoned" — they lost.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the choice of verb: losing is different from putting down deliberately. A thing can stay in the hand while it is emptied out. And indeed the verse does not say that the prayer was not performed but that it was let go to waste.

إِلَّا مَن تَابَ وَءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَٰلِحًا (60) — and the exception comes immediately after. The same exception was treated in al-Furqān 25/70; I rely on that treatment.

"We descend only by the command of your Lord. To Him belongs what is before us, what is behind us, and what is between the two. Your Lord is not forgetful."

The verse does not say who is speaking; it is transmitted in the classical commentaries that they are the angels. I transmit this as an explanation that is reported.

مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِينَا وَمَا خَلْفَنَا — the same construction was treated in Fuṣṣilat 41/25 and 41/42, and it was recorded there: the pair is used to cover all the sides of a thing. I rely on that treatment.

وَمَا كَانَ رَبُّكَ نَسِيًّا — "Your Lord is not forgetful."

Where the sentence stands is worth recording: the preceding passage spoke of those who let the prayer go to waste. And in the twenty-third verse Mary had wished to be nasyan mansiyyā (a forgotten thing, forgotten).

The same root, in two places in the sūra. I record this as my own reading: to the servant who at her hardest moment wishes to be forgotten, it is announced that there is no forgetting.

"Man says: 'When I am dead, shall I really be brought forth alive?' Does man not call to mind that We created him before, when he was nothing?"

The answer overlaps word for word with the ninth verse of the sūra — I tabulated it in the section on 19/7-11. The sentence said to Zechariah is here said to the one who denies the resurrection.

I record this as my own reading: the sūra uses the same proof against two different doubts — one "I am old, I cannot have a child", the other "I am dead, I shall not be raised". Both are claims of impossibility, and both are met with the same past.

جِثِيًّا — root ج-ث-و: to fall upon the knees. The root was analysed in al-Jāthiya in connection with the name of the sūra (wa tarā kulla ummatin jāthiya). I do not repeat it here.

The word occurs twice in this sūra (68 and 72) and conveys the same state as its use in al-Jāthiya: the posture of waiting.

"There is not one of you who will not come to it; this is a decree of your Lord, settled and carried out."

There is disagreement in the classical commentaries over how this verse is to be understood, and it is not concealed:

All three readings are transmitted; I do not impose a preference.

The root و-ر-د: to arrive at water, to reach a spring. Wārid — the one who goes to fetch water. The dictionary sense of the word is "to reach"; it does not necessarily include entering — and this is the ground of the first reading. I record this as an observation about the language, not as a preference.

And the next verse makes the distinction: thumma nunajjī'lladhīna'ttaqaw wa nadharu'ẓ-ẓālimīna fīhā jithiyyā.

"When Our verses are recited to them, clear as they are, those who disbelieve say to those who believe: 'Which of the two parties has the better station and the finer assembly?'"

The form of the objection must be recorded: the other side puts forward no proof — it proposes a comparison.

نَدِىّ — root ن-د-و: a gathering place, an assembly. The word occurred in al-ʿAnkabūt 29/29 (wa taʾtūna fī nādīkumu'l-munkar); I rely on that treatment.

And the two things chosen as the measure are worth recording: maqām (the place where one stands, standing) and nadiyy (the assembly). The measure, that is, is position and company.

The same logic was treated in al-Aḥqāf 46/11 (law kāna khayran mā sabaqūnā ilayh) and in al-Zukhruf 43/31: reading the worth of a thing from the standing of the one who carries it. I rely on that treatment.

وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّن قَرْنٍ هُمْ أَحْسَنُ أَثَٰثًا وَرِءْيًا (74) — and the answer is given by the same measure: those with better furnishings and a better appearance than they were destroyed.

Athāth (household goods) and riʾy (appearance) — both words belong to outward show. The answer, that is, does not dispute the measure; it shows the end of those who were superior by that measure. I record this as an observation.

The two-branched question must be recorded: aṭṭalaʿa'l-ghayba ami'ttakhadha ʿinda'r-Raḥmāni ʿahdā — "has he looked into the unseen, or has he taken a covenant with al-Raḥmān?"

I record this as an observation: only two ways on which the claim could rest are counted, and both are closed. And the same expression (ʿinda'r-Raḥmāni ʿahdā) will be repeated in the eighty-seventh verse, for intercession. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

"They have taken gods besides God, that these might be a might for them. No! Those gods will deny their service and will stand against them… On that day We shall gather those who guard themselves to al-Raḥmān as a delegation; and We shall drive the guilty to Hell, thirsty."

The verse states the reason for the act of taking: li-yakūnū lahum ʿizzā — "that they might be a might for them."

The same method was treated in al-ʿAnkabūt 29/25: there the ground was mawaddata baynikum (the bond of affection among you). The two sūras name two different grounds for the same act:

And a ground was transmitted in al-Zumar 39/3 as well (li-yuqarribūnā ila'llāhi zulfā — that they might bring us near). Three sūras record three different grounds — and all three are given from the other side's own mouth or intention. This is a weave that can be verified.

كَلَّا سَيَكْفُرُونَ بِعِبَادَتِهِمْ وَيَكُونُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ ضِدًّا — and the opposite of the expected outcome is announced: what was taken so as to be a might goes over to the other side.

Ḍidd — the opposite, the adversary. The word occurs only here in the Qurʾān. The same reversal was treated in al-Aḥqāf 46/6 and al-Zukhruf 43/67; I rely on that treatment.

The root أ-ز-ز — occurring here for the first time in the series. The sense the lexicographers give: to bring to the boil, to incite into motion, to prod. It is recorded that the word is used for the sound of a boiling cauldron.

And something similar was treated in Fuṣṣilat 41/36 (wa immā yanzaghannaka mina'sh-shayṭāni nazgh) — there the word was nazgh (a prodding). Both words convey a sudden incitement that comes from within.

فَلَا تَعْجَلْ عَلَيْهِمْ إِنَّمَا نَعُدُّ لَهُمْ عَدًّا (84) — "do not be in haste against them; We are only counting for them a counting."

I record this as an observation: the sentence is not a consolation but a statement about time. Naʿuddu lahum ʿaddā — the counting is under way. And the same postponement was treated in Fāṭir 35/45 (yuʾakhkhiruhum ilā ajalin musammā); I rely on that treatment.

The bringing of the two groups is given with two different words, and both are worth recording:

Wafd is used in Arabic for a delegation received into the presence of a ruler — that is, the side that is hosted. Wird, on the other hand, is used for a herd of animals driven to drink.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the lexical field of the two words: one comes, the other is driven. One is a guest, the other a herd. And the verbs confirm this: naḥshuru (we gather) / nasūqu (we drive).

And the second word is from the same root as wārid in the seventy-first verse (و-ر-د). The sūra uses the same root in two different scenes fifteen verses apart.

لَّا يَمْلِكُونَ ٱلشَّفَٰعَةَ إِلَّا مَنِ ٱتَّخَذَ عِندَ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ عَهْدًا (87) — and intercession is made conditional: ʿahd.

The construction had occurred in the seventy-eighth verse as well (ami'ttakhadha ʿinda'r-Raḥmāni ʿahdā) — there it was asked as the ground of a claim. Here it is set down as a condition. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

The tying of intercession to permission was treated in al-Baqara 2/255 and al-Zumar 39/43-44; I rely on that treatment.

"'al-Raḥmān has taken a child,' they said. You have surely put forward a monstrous thing! At it the heavens are near to splitting apart, the earth to cleaving open, and the mountains to collapsing in ruin."

Three verbs are counted, and all three are on the scale of the universe: yatafaṭṭarna (to split apart), tanshaqqu (to cleave open), takhirru … haddā (to collapse in ruin).

I record this as my own reading: the verse answers the claim not with a proof but with a scale. The weight of what was said is thus pictured as a load the universe could not bear.

إِدًّا — root أ-د-د: something very heavy, terrible, appalling. The word occurs only here in the Qurʾān.

تَخِرُّ ٱلْجِبَالُ هَدًّا — and the verb kharra occurs for the second time in the sūra.

The same verb, one for service and one for ruin. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

"Every one in the heavens and the earth comes to al-Raḥmān only as a servant."

And the word of the answer must be recorded: ʿabdan.

In the thirtieth verse of the sūra Jesus's first words were innī ʿabdu'llāh. The ninety-third verse applies the same word to everyone without exception.

This is the clearest link in the sūra, and it can be verified from the text. I record this as my own reading: the answer to the claim is given in the words of the very person the claim is about, and is then generalised.

And the principle treated in Luqmān 31/33 (lā yajzī wālidun ʿan waladih) comes down here to a single word.

"For those who believe and do righteous deeds al-Raḥmān will bring about an affection. We have made it easy in your tongue so that… you may warn with it a stubborn people. How many generations We destroyed before them: do you sense so much as one of them, or hear from them a whisper?"

The root و-د-د: love, attachment. The root was treated in al-Shūrā 42/23 and in al-ʿAnkabūt 29/25 — where it was recorded that the taking of idols served as a social bond.

The two verses can be compared:

I record this as my own reading: the verb is yajʿalu — "He will bring about". Affection is named not as something earned or organised but as something given.

قَوْمًا لُّدًّا — root ل-د-د: stubborn, not to be pinned down in dispute. The root was treated in al-Baqara 2/204 (aladdu'l-khiṣām), and there the picture the lexicographers record was given — "the two sides of the neck: seized from one side, it slips to the other". I rely on that treatment.

The sūra closes with a question, and the measure of the question is worth recording.

رِكْز — the sense the lexicographers give: a very faint sound, barely heard; a whisper. The word occurs only here in the Qurʾān.

I record this as my own reading: the verse does not ask "is anyone of them left?" — it asks for the smallest trace of sound. Absence, that is, is measured from the lowest threshold.

And the sūra's axis of sound closes here: in the third verse the prayer was made with a hidden voice (nidāʾan khafiyyā); in the eleventh verse Zechariah spoke by a gesture; in the twenty-sixth verse Mary was commanded not to speak; in the fifty-second verse Moses was brought near in secret. The sūra opens with a sound that is not heard and closes with a sound that is not heard — but one is a prayer that is accepted, the other a trace that does not remain.