وَجَعَلْنَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ رَوَٰسِىَ أَن تَمِيدَ بِهِمْ وَجَعَلْنَا فِيهَا فِجَاجًا سُبُلًا لَّعَلَّهُمْ يَهْتَدُونَ · وَجَعَلْنَا ٱلسَّمَآءَ سَقْفًا مَّحْفُوظًا وَهُمْ عَنْ ءَايَٰتِهَا مُعْرِضُونَ
Wa jaʿalnā fi'l-arḍi rawāsiya an tamīda bihim wa jaʿalnā fīhā fijājan subulan laʿallahum yahtadūn · Wa jaʿalna's-samāʾa saqfan maḥfūẓā, wa hum ʿan āyātihā muʿriḍūn
"And We set firm mountains in the earth, lest it sway with them, and made in it broad passes for roads, that they might find their way. · And We made the sky a guarded roof. Yet they turn away from its signs."
The root was analysed in detail at Qāf on 50/7, and the same expression (rawāsiya an tamīda bikum) was treated at Luqmān on 31/10. I rely on those treatments and do not repeat them.
"The word is a plural active participle: rawāsī — 'those that have cast anchor', 'those that stand fast'. That is, the mountain is named not by its name but by its state. […] This is an image; it is not a geological claim."
That note holds here too and must be repeated: I do not match the verse with modern explanations of the role of mountains in the earth's crust.
| Qāf 50/7 | Luqmān 31/10 | al-Anbiyāʾ 21/31 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The verb | alqaynā fīhā — We cast | alqā fi'l-arḍ — He cast | jaʿalnā fi'l-arḍ — We set |
| The ground | Not given | an tamīda bikum — lest it sway with you | an tamīda bihim — lest it sway with them |
| What follows | wa anbatnā fīhā min kulli zawjin bahīj | wa baththa fīhā min kulli dābba | wa jaʿalnā fīhā fijājan subulā |
Two differences must be recorded. The first: Luqmān says bikum (with you), al-Anbiyāʾ bihim (with them) — a shift from direct address to the third person. In al-Anbiyāʾ the addressees had been named a verse earlier in the third person as alladhīna kafarū; the pronoun follows that.
The second, and more important: in Qāf and Luqmān plants and living creatures are named after the mountains; in al-Anbiyāʾ a road is named. Fijājan subulā.
Fijāj — the root ف-ج-ج: a broad pass between two mountains. Fajj — a cleft, a pass; its plural fijāj. And subul (roads) is its attribute or its appositive.
I record this as my own reading, its ground being the arrangement of the three sūras: in al-Anbiyāʾ the mountain is named first as what makes firm and then as what gives passage. That is, the same thing provides both the standing and the walking. And the clause of purpose confirms it: laʿallahum yahtadūn — that they might find their way.
Saqf — a roof, a ceiling. And the choice of the word is worth recording: the sky is named as an element of a building. In the preceding verse the earth was named as ground walked upon; here the sky becomes a roof. The two verses together build the picture of a dwelling.
Maḥfūẓ — root ح-ف-ظ, a passive participle: guarded. From what it is guarded is not said, and several explanations are transmitted in the classical commentaries (guarded from falling / closed to entry from outside / guarded from decay). The verse does not specify; nor do I.
وَهُمْ عَنْ ءَايَٰتِهَا مُعْرِضُونَ — and muʿriḍūn for the third time in the sūra. And there is a fine point of word order here: what is turned away from is not the sky itself but āyātihā — "its signs". That is, the sky is seen; it is not read as a sign.