Ṭāhā 20:128-130

A-fa-lam yahdi lahum kam ahlaknā qablahum mina'l-qurūni yamshūna fī masākinihim, inna fī dhālika la-āyātin li-uli'n-nuhā · Wa law lā kalimatun sabaqat min rabbika la-kāna lizāman wa ajalun musammā · Faṣbir ʿalā mā yaqūlūna wa sabbiḥ bi-ḥamdi rabbika qabla ṭulūʿi'sh-shamsi wa qabla ghurūbihā, wa min ānāʾi'l-layli fa-sabbiḥ wa aṭrāfa'n-nahāri laʿallaka tarḍā

"Has it not guided them, how many generations We destroyed before them, in whose dwellings they walk about? In that there are signs for those who possess restraint. · Were it not for a word that has gone forth from your Lord and a term appointed, it would have been inevitable. · Bear patiently what they say, and glorify your Lord with praise before the rising of the sun and before its setting. Glorify Him in the watches of the night and at the ends of the day; perhaps you will be well pleased."

And the root ه-د-ي comes once more towards the end of the sūra — this time with an event as its subject: kam ahlaknā — the number of generations destroyed.

I record this as an observation about the structure: the subject of the verb is not a person but a datum of history. And a verb of walking is named: yamshūna fī masākinihim — "they walk about in their dwellings." That is, the remains are seen.

The same line was treated at Maryam on 19/98 (wa kam ahlaknā qablahum min qarnin hal tuḥissu minhum min aḥad) and the question of the source of knowledge was treated in detail at al-Qaṣaṣ on 28/43-51. I rely on those treatments.

And the expression ulu'n-nuhā occurs here for the second time — tabulated in the discussion of the fifty-fourth verse. Two verses of the sūra end with the same sentence, and both come after a call to look: one at creation, the other at ruins.

Kalima — here a judgement given, a decision set down. And lizām — root ل-ز-م: to stick to a thing and not part from it; whence inevitable, necessary.

And two things are named: kalimatun sabaqat and ajalun musammā.

The same deferral was treated at Fāṭir on 35/45 (yuʾakhkhiruhum ilā ajalin musammā); I rely on that treatment.

The command of the block must be recorded: faṣbir ʿalā mā yaqūlūn.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the sūra's second verse: the sūra had opened with "the Qurʾān did not come down on you for shaqā". The hundred and thirtieth verse nevertheless commands the one addressed something: patience. The two do not conflict — because what is negated is a burden and what is commanded is endurance. And the object of the command is specified: ʿalā mā yaqūlūn — what is said.

The times enumerated for glorification must be recorded, and the ordering is interesting:

آنَاء — the plural of inan: the divisions of the night, its hours.

In the classical commentaries the relation of this verse to the times of prayer has been disputed, and different correspondences are transmitted. No legal ruling is issued in this commentary; nor do I transmit the correspondences as certain knowledge.

What can be verified from the text is this, and I record it: the four spans of time cover the whole of the day — the two extremes (rising and setting), the night, and the ends of the day. And this is on the same line as the command in the fourteenth verse: wa aqimi'ṣ-ṣalāta li-dhikrī.

لَعَلَّكَ تَرْضَىٰ — and the third link of the root ر-ض-و is here (tabulated in the discussion of 20/109-112).

A point of word order must be recorded: tarḍā — "you will be well pleased". The subject of the verb is the one addressed.

And in the eighty-fourth verse Moses had said li-tarḍā — there its subject was God ("that You might be pleased").

The same verb, the same pattern, two different subjects. I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the verbal overlap of the two verses: Moses had hastened for his Lord's good pleasure; here the one addressed is shown the road to his own good pleasure, and that road is patience and glorification. That is, the sūra has recorded both directions of the same word.