al-Muʾminūn 23:117

wa man yadʿu maʿa'llāhi ilāhan ākhara lā burhāna lahū bihī fa-innamā ḥisābuhū ʿinda rabbih, innahū lā yufliḥu'l-kāfirūn

"Whoever calls upon another god along with God, for which he has no proof whatever — his reckoning is with his Lord alone. The disbelievers do not attain deliverance."

بُرْهَٰن — a decisive, irresistible proof. The lexicographers differ over the origin of the word: it is said to derive from the root ب-ر-ه (whiteness, clarity); the view that it is a word taken into Arabic is also transmitted. I pass the disagreement on; I do not impose a preference.

The word occurs in several places in the Qurʾān: al-Baqara 2/111, al-Nisāʾ 4/174, al-Qaṣaṣ 28/32 and 28/75, al-Naml 27/64.

And the parsing of the sentence must be recorded: lā burhāna lahū bihī is an adjective to ilāhan ākhar. The lexicographers count this adjective a ṣifa kāshifa — that is, an adjective brought not to distinguish but to disclose the state of the case.

I record this as my own reading, its ground being this parsing: the sentence does not distinguish between "a god for which there is no proof" and "a god for which there is a proof". The adjective is set down to show that there is no such distinction. And the matter had already been settled in the ninety-first verse of the sūra: wa mā kāna maʿahū min ilāh.

The root ح-س-ب was treated at the hundred and fifteenth verse, and its three occurrences in the sūra were tabulated there (55, 115, 117). This is the third, and it is the root's noun form.

I record this as an observation: the sūra had twice asked "did you suppose?" (a-yaḥsabūna, a-fa-ḥasibtum); here the same root turns into a word of outcome: ḥisāb. Supposing and reckoning, that is, come from the same root.

This is a datum of the language, and the lexicographers record under the root the core "to count, to reckon" — ḥasiba (he counted) and ḥasiba (he supposed) are two branches of the same root. I build no forced link between them; I only record the distribution within the sūra.

And innamā must be recorded: a particle of restriction — "only, none but". The place of the reckoning is being limited.

This is a link in the limit of responsibility tabulated at al-Furqān 25/43 and al-Qaṣaṣ 28/56: the party that judges is separated from the party that delivers the message. And the same limit was drawn in this sūra at the fifty-fourth verse (fa-dharhum fī ghamratihim).

And here the clearest frame of the sūra closes.

The sūra opens with the positive of a single root and closes with its negative. This is a fact that can be verified from the text.

And four differences must be recorded:

One. Mood. The first is perfect (done and finished), the second imperfect (ongoing). The deliverance is complete, that is, and the failure to attain it continues.

Two. Subject. Muʾminūn and kāfirūn — both active participles, both plural, both definite (with the article).

Three. Place. The first is the sūra's first sentence, the second its last verdict (118 is a prayer).

Four. And there is a third occurrence in between: the hundred and second verse (humu'l-mufliḥūn) — the place where the measure is set.

I record this as my own reading, its ground being this threefold distribution: the sūra gives the verdict at the start, sets the measure in the middle, and states the negative at the end. And the root sense worked out in al-Baqara fits this frame: falāḥ is to break through an obstacle and come out. The list at the sūra's opening describes how that breaking through is to happen. This is a reading, and it is not binding.