al-Muʾminūn 23:104-105 commentary

23/104-105

تَلْفَحُ وُجُوهَهُمُ ٱلنَّارُ وَهُمْ فِيهَا كَٰلِحُونَ · أَلَمْ تَكُنْ ءَايَٰتِى تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ فَكُنتُم بِهَا تُكَذِّبُونَ

talfaḥu wujūhahumu'l-nāru wa hum fīhā kāliḥūn · a-lam takun āyātī tutlā ʿalaykum fa-kuntum bihā tukadhdhibūn

"The Fire scorches their faces, and there they are drawn back in a grimace. 'Were My signs not recited to you? And you used to deny them.'"

تَلْفَحُ — root: ل-ف-ح

The concrete sense of the root: the striking of a flame or a hot wind against the face.

And the lexicographers record a difference of degree between lafḥ and nafḥ:

Word	Root	Degree
نَفْح	ن-ف-ح	A light breath, a slight touch
لَفْح	ل-ف-ح	A violent striking, a scorching

I pass this distinction on as it is transmitted.

The root is worked out here for the first time in this series. The word occurs only here in the Qurʾān.

And the object of the verb must be recorded: wujūhahum — the faces. The face is the limb that comes regularly to the fore in the Qurʾān's tables of punishment and favour — it was treated at ʿAbasa 80/38-41 (wujūhun yawmaʾidhin musfira / ʿalayhā ghabara) and at al-Ghāshiya 88/2 and 88/8.

كَٰلِحُون — root: ك-ل-ح

The concrete sense of the root is given by the lexicographers as follows: the drawing back of the lips so that the teeth are left bare. Kalaḥa — his lips drew back and his teeth showed.

The root is worked out here for the first time in this series. The word occurs only here in the Qurʾān.

And the picture in the word is worth recording: what is described is not an expression of pain — it is a state of the face. The lips have drawn back and the teeth have become visible.

I give this as an entry about the language and go no further. And the finding recorded at al-Furqān 25/12 holds here too: in these scenes the Qurʾān uses a detail that can be seen rather than an abstract adjective.

أَلَمْ تَكُنْ ءَايَٰتِى تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ — the return to the sixty-sixth verse

This sentence was treated at the sixty-sixth verse and tabulated there. In brief:

Verse	Pattern	Where
66	qad kānat āyātī tutlā ʿalaykum — a statement	In this world
105	a-lam takun āyātī tutlā ʿalaykum — a question	In the hereafter

And the verbs that follow also differ, and this must be recorded:

Verse	The reaction
66	fa-kuntum ʿalā aʿqābikum tankiṣūn — drawing back on the heels
105	fa-kuntum bihā tukadhdhibūn — denying

I record this as my own reading, its ground being the difference between the two verbs: the scene in this world described a behaviour (drawing back); the scene in the hereafter names the same thing as a verdict (denial).

The sūra, that is, gives the behaviour seen from outside its name at the end. This is a reading, and it is not binding.