يَوْمَئِذٍ لَّا تَنفَعُ ٱلشَّفَٰعَةُ إِلَّا مَنْ أَذِنَ لَهُ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنُ وَرَضِىَ لَهُۥ قَوْلًا · يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِهِۦ عِلْمًا · وَعَنَتِ ٱلْوُجُوهُ لِلْحَىِّ ٱلْقَيُّومِ وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ حَمَلَ ظُلْمًا · وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِنَ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَا يَخَافُ ظُلْمًا وَلَا هَضْمًا
Yawmaʾidhin lā tanfaʿu'sh-shafāʿatu illā man adhina lahu'r-Raḥmānu wa raḍiya lahu qawlā · Yaʿlamu mā bayna aydīhim wa mā khalfahum wa lā yuḥīṭūna bihi ʿilmā · Wa ʿanati'l-wujūhu li'l-ḥayyi'l-qayyūm, wa qad khāba man ḥamala ẓulmā · Wa man yaʿmal mina'ṣ-ṣāliḥāti wa huwa muʾminun fa-lā yakhāfu ẓulman wa lā haḍmā
"On that day intercession will not avail, save from one to whom the Merciful has given leave and with whose word He is pleased. · He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they do not encompass Him in knowledge. · Faces will be humbled before the Living, the Sustainer. Whoever carries a load of wrong has surely lost. · And whoever does righteous works as a believer fears neither wrong done to him nor any curtailing of his due."
| Condition | Expression | What |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adhina lahu'r-Raḥmān | Leave — for intercession to be made |
| 2 | Wa raḍiya lahu qawlā | Acceptance — of what is said |
I record this as an observation: having been given leave is not enough; the acceptance of what is said is named separately as well.
The binding of intercession to leave was treated at al-Baqara on 2/255 and at Maryam on 19/87; I rely on those treatments. In Maryam the condition was ʿahd (illā mani'ttakhadha ʿinda'r-Raḥmāni ʿahdā); in Ṭāhā, leave and acceptance.
| Verse | Expression | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 84 | Wa ʿajiltu ilayka rabbi li-tarḍā | Moses — "that You might be pleased" |
| 109 | Wa raḍiya lahu qawlā | The condition of intercession |
| 130 | Sabbiḥ … laʿallaka tarḍā | To the Prophet — "perhaps you will be pleased" |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the three verses carry the same root: in the eighty-fourth verse Moses was hastening for the sake of good pleasure; in the hundred and thirtieth patience and glorification are shown to the Prophet as the road to good pleasure. The same goal, two different roads — and it is directly connected with the sūra's link of haste (83-84-114).
The expression was treated at Fuṣṣilat on 41/25 and 41/42 and mentioned again at Maryam on 19/64; it was recorded there that the pair is used to cover every aspect of a thing. I rely on those treatments.
| Side | Verb | Object |
|---|---|---|
| He | Yaʿlamu — knows | What is before them and behind them |
| They | Lā yuḥīṭūna bihi ʿilmā — do not encompass | Him |
Iḥāṭa — root ح-و-ط: to surround a thing on every side. That is, the sentence negates not knowledge but the encompassing reach of knowledge. Bihi ʿilmā — "in respect of knowledge".
I record this as an observation about the structure: the verse does not treat human knowledge as nothing at all. It treats the encompassing as nothing. And the opposite of this occurred in the ninety-eighth verse: wasiʿa kulla shayʾin ʿilmā — "He encompasses all things in knowledge."
| Verse | Expression | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 98 | Wasiʿa kulla shayʾin ʿilmā | God — there is encompassing |
| 110 | Wa lā yuḥīṭūna bihi ʿilmā | People — there is no encompassing |
And the prayer in the hundred and fourteenth verse must be read together with these two: wa qul rabbi zidnī ʿilmā. Three verses, the same word: an encompassing, an inability to encompass, and a request for increase. I record this as one of the most striking links in the sūra.
The root ع-ن-و — occurs here for the first time in the series. The sense the lexicographers give: to bow, to submit, to fall captive. ʿĀnī — a captive. The word conveys a bowing not of one's own will but under compulsion.
And the subject of the verb must be recorded: al-wujūh (the faces). That is, what is bowed is the most visible and most guarded part of a person.
I record this as an observation: the hundred and eleventh verse makes faces its subject, the hundred and eighth voices. Neither is the person himself, but something belonging to the person. This can be verified from the text as a choice of narration in the sūra.
ٱلْحَىِّ ٱلْقَيُّوم — two names together. This pair was treated at al-Baqara on 2/255 (the Verse of the Throne); I rely on that treatment.
And I record a datum of the text: this pair occurs in three places in the Qurʾān — al-Baqara 2/255, Āl ʿImrān 3/2 and Ṭāhā 20/111. And the occurrence in Ṭāhā, together with the hundred and tenth verse, carries two separate sentences of the Verse of the Throne side by side:
| The Verse of the Throne (2/255) | Ṭāhā |
|---|---|
| Al-ḥayyu'l-qayyūm | 111 — Li'l-ḥayyi'l-qayyūm |
| Yaʿlamu mā bayna aydīhim wa mā khalfahum | 110 — the same sentence |
| Wa lā yuḥīṭūna bi-shayʾin min ʿilmihi illā bimā shāʾ | 110 — wa lā yuḥīṭūna bihi ʿilmā |
| Man dha'lladhī yashfaʿu ʿindahu illā bi-idhnih | 109 — illā man adhina lahu'r-Raḥmān |
Four elements, within three verses. This is an overlap between two sūras that can be verified, and it is a countable datum. I make no claim about intent; I record the overlap.
| Word | Root | What |
|---|---|---|
| Ẓulm | ظ-ل-م | The loading on of something not deserved |
| Haḍm | ه-ض-م | The curtailing of something deserved |
The root ه-ض-م — occurs here for the first time in the series. The sense the lexicographers give: to break a thing and press it inward, to diminish it. From the same root come haḍm (the grinding down and reduction of food in digestion) and haḍīm (slender-waisted). The word occurs only here in the Qurʾān.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the two words are named separately: injustice has two faces — to load on more and to cut from what is due. The verse negates both of them separately. And the asymmetry recorded at al-Qaṣaṣ on 28/84 attaches here: the one who brings a good deed is given more, the one who brings an evil deed exactly its like. Read together, the two verses yield an order in which there is neither curtailing nor over-loading, but in which more may be given.