al-Anbiyāʾ 21:68-70

Qālū ḥarriqūhu wa'nṣurū ālihatakum in kuntum fāʿilīn · Qulnā yā nāru kūnī bardan wa salāman ʿalā Ibrāhīm · Wa arādū bihi kaydan fa-jaʿalnāhumu'l-akhsarīn

"They said: 'Burn him and help your gods — if you are going to do anything!' · We said: 'Fire! Be coolness and safety for Abraham.' · They meant to scheme against him, so We made them the greatest losers."

And there is a fine point of word order in the sixty-eighth verse.

The people want their gods to be helped: wa'nṣurū ālihatakum.

I record this as my own reading, its ground being the forty-third verse: twenty-five verses earlier the sūra had said — lā yastaṭīʿūna naṣra anfusihim — "they cannot help themselves." The same root (ن-ص-ر).

That is, the people's sentence, without their noticing, confirms the ruling the sūra had already set down: a thing granted to be in need of help is counted a god.

In kuntum fāʿilīn — "if you are going to do it". And the same pattern occurred in the seventeenth verse: in kunnā fāʿilīn. The same two words, once in the mouth of the text and once in the mouth of the people. It is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

And this is the most striking address in the sūra: the speech is directed at a fire.

The same technique was treated at Fuṣṣilat on 41/11: fa-qāla lahā wa li'l-arḍi'tiyā ṭawʿan aw karhā. Two explanations were tabulated there — a figurative telling (tamthīl), or a real address whose modality is unknown — and no preference was imposed. I rely on that treatment; the same two explanations are transmitted for this place as well.

And a point of word order must be recorded — I give this as my own reading:

The command is not "go out". Kūnī — "be". That is, the fire is not removed; an attribute is given to the fire.

The sentence does not tell how the event came about; it says what was commanded. I do not go into the detail, because the verse does not.

بَرْدًا وَسَلَٰمًا — two words. And in the classical commentaries a widespread explanation is transmitted of why the second word was added: had it said only bard (coolness), extreme cold would also have harmed; the note salām removes the harm altogether. I transmit this as a transmitted explanation.

The root س-ل-م: completeness, soundness, freedom from harm. And this is exactly the work of the word here: salām is not "peace" but harmlessness.

عَلَىٰٓ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ — and a note: ʿalā Ibrāhīm — "for Abraham". That is, the coolness and safety are defined not as a general state of the fire but with respect to a particular person.

I record this as an observation about the structure; the verse says no more than this.

And this sentence is almost word for word the same as al-Ṣāffāt 37/98. The difference is in a single word.

Two sūras close the same event with the same sentence and change the last word. This is a verifiable comparison of wording.

And I add this as my own reading, its ground being the subjects of the two sūras: al-Ṣāffāt is a sūra of ranks — its opening is al-ṣāffāt, its close naḥnu'ṣ-ṣāffūn. A word of position fits there. al-Anbiyāʾ is a sūra of reckoning — its opening is ḥisābuhum, its forty-seventh verse al-mawāzīn, ḥāsibīn. A word of loss fits here.

I give this as a reading; I do not claim that the two sūras' choice of word was deliberate — I record only the fit.