أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَٰكُمْ عَبَثًا وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ
The concrete sense of the root is given by the lexicographers as follows: to meddle with a thing aimlessly, to keep fiddling with it by hand. ʿAbitha bi-shayʾ — he played idly with a thing, he fiddled with it. And from this ʿabath — a work attached to no purpose.
The root is worked out here for the first time in this series. The word occurs in two places in the Qurʾān: al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/128 (a-tabnūna bi-kulli rīʿin āyatan taʿbathūn) and this verse.
It was treated in detail at al-Dukhān 44/38 (wa mā khalaqnā'l-samāwāti wa'l-arḍa wa mā baynahumā lāʿibīn). What was recorded there:
The sentence does not say "We did not create." Mā khalaqnā … lāʿibīn — what is negated is not the act but the state of the act.
And in al-Dukhān it was given as an entry about the wording that the same sentence occurs at al-Anbiyāʾ 21/16 as well; that verse was treated at al-Anbiyāʾ 21/16-18. I rely on both.
| Word | Root | The difference the lexicographers give |
|---|---|---|
| لَعِب | ل-ع-ب | Play — it has a purpose (pleasure, amusement), but it is not serious |
| عَبَث | ع-ب-ث | Idle doing — it has no purpose at all |
| Place | The state negated | The object | About whom |
|---|---|---|---|
| al-Dukhān 44/38 | lāʿibīn — as those playing | The heavens and the earth | The Creator — mā khalaqnā |
| al-Anbiyāʾ 21/16 | lāʿibīn | Sky, earth and what is between | The Creator |
| al-Muʾminūn 23/115 | ʿabathan — in vain | You — the human being | The addressee's supposition — a-fa-ḥasibtum |
One. A difference of object. al-Dukhān and al-Anbiyāʾ name the universe; al-Muʾminūn names the addressee directly — khalaqnākum.
Two. A difference of mood. The others are statements (We did not create); al-Muʾminūn is a question (did you suppose).
Three. A difference of word. In the others laʿib (play), here ʿabath (idle doing). And by the distinction the lexicographers record, ʿabath is the heavier: in play there is an aim, in ʿabath there is none at all.
Four — and this is worth recording: al-Dukhān and al-Anbiyāʾ negate a state of the Creator; al-Muʾminūn asks about the condition of what is created. Khalaqnākum ʿabathan — "you, in vain". The question, that is, is about the meaning of the human being's own existence.
| Verse | Sentence | What is supposed |
|---|---|---|
| 55 | a-yaḥsabūna annamā numidduhum bihī min mālin wa banīn… | That what is given is a favour |
| 115 | a-fa-ḥasibtum annamā khalaqnākum ʿabathā | That the creation is in vain |
| 117 | fa-innamā ḥisābuhū ʿinda rabbih | The reckoning — the root in its noun form |
And the two questions are built on the same pattern: annamā + a verb. The sūra, that is, questions two great suppositions in the same language: one about what is given within life, the other about life itself.
| Verse | Sentence | Who asks / what is said |
|---|---|---|
| 99 | rabbi'rjiʿūn | They ask to return to the world |
| 115 | ilaynā lā turjaʿūn | They suppose they will not be returned to Us |
| 60 | annahum ilā rabbihim rājiʿūn | What the believers know — that they are returning to their Lord |
All three occurrences can be verified from the text. And I record this as my own reading, its ground being this threefold distribution:
In the sixtieth verse the return is a piece of knowledge that makes hearts tremble. In the hundred and fifteenth the denial of that same return is put as a supposition. And in the ninety-ninth the return is what is at last asked for and not given.
And the word order must be recorded: ilaynā has been brought forward (taqdīm) — "to Us — that you would not be returned". The emphasis is on to whom the return is.