وَمَا نَتَنَزَّلُ إِلَّا بِأَمْرِ رَبِّكَ لَهُۥ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِينَا وَمَا خَلْفَنَا وَمَا بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ وَمَا كَانَ رَبُّكَ نَسِيًّا
"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.
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).
| Verse | Root | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 23 | Nasyan mansiyyā | Mary — wishes to be forgotten |
| 64 | Wa mā kāna rabbuka nasiyyā | The answer — there is no forgetting |
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.