وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ فِى ٱلْأَنْعَٰمِ لَعِبْرَةً نُّسْقِيكُم مِّمَّا فِى بُطُونِهَا وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَٰفِعُ كَثِيرَةٌ وَمِنْهَا تَأْكُلُونَ · وَعَلَيْهَا وَعَلَى ٱلْفُلْكِ تُحْمَلُونَ
wa inna lakum fi'l-anʿāmi la-ʿibrah, nusqīkum mimmā fī buṭūnihā wa lakum fīhā manāfiʿu kathīratun wa minhā taʾkulūn · wa ʿalayhā wa ʿalā'l-fulki tuḥmalūn
"In the grazing animals too there is a lesson for you: We give you to drink of what is in their bellies; in them you have many benefits, and from them you eat. On them and on the ship you are carried."
The root was worked out at al-Nāziʿāt 79/26 and at al-Ḥashr 59/2 (fa'tabirū yā ulī'l-abṣār). I do not repeat it here. The summary given there:
The concrete sense of the root: to pass from one side of a thing to the other. ʿUbūr — crossing over; maʿbar — a crossing place; ʿibāra — the speech that carries a meaning from one mind to another; taʿbīr — the carrying of a dream from image to meaning; ʿabra — the tear that spills over from the eye.
What belongs here is this, and I give it as my own reading: the picture in the word is passing from one place to another. A "lesson" (ʿibra), that is, is not the watching of what is seen — it is the crossing from what is seen to what is not seen. And the verse shows at once where this crossing runs from and to: from the drink that comes out of the animal's belly, to the order that brings it out.
The sentence is worth recording: the verse does not say "milk". Mimmā fī buṭūnihā — "of what is in their bellies".
I record this as an observation about the word order: instead of a name, a place is reported. And this fits the logic of the word "lesson" itself: the attention is drawn not to the product but to the place the product comes out of.
The same phenomenon is told in more detail at al-Naḥl 16/66 (min bayni farthin wa damin labanan khāliṣan). This verse keeps it short.
The root س-ق-ي: to give to drink. The pattern is Form IV (asqā), and the lexicographers record a nuance between saqā and asqā: the first is giving a drink once, the second providing a standing source of water. I pass the explanation on as it is transmitted.
The root ن-ف-ع: benefit. The word comes in the plural and with an adjective: manāfiʿu kathīra — "many benefits". The verse does not enumerate them.
The same expression occurs at al-Naḥl 16/5 (lakum fīhā difʾun wa manāfiʿu wa minhā taʾkulūn) and at al-Ḥajj 22/33.
فُلْك — the root ف-ل-ك was worked out at al-Zukhruf 43/12. I do not repeat it here. The summary given there: the core the lexicographers give is roundness and turning; falak — an orbit; falka — the round weight at the head of a spindle. Its use for a ship is explained by way of the ship's hull, or of its going by rocking on the water.
And the word order must be recorded: ʿalayhā (on them) and ʿalā'l-fulk (on the ship) are joined by the same particle and by a single verb: tuḥmalūn — "you are carried", passive.
I give this as my own reading, its ground being the passive of the verb: the sentence does not say "you ride" — "you are carried." The agent of the verb, that is, is not you. Land and sea are joined in a single verb of carrying.
The same pair was treated at al-Zukhruf 43/12 (wa jaʿala lakum mina'l-fulki wa'l-anʿāmi mā tarkabūn). The difference here must be recorded: in al-Zukhruf the verb is tarkabūn (you ride) — active; here it is tuḥmalūn (you are carried) — passive.
| Place | Verb | Voice |
|---|---|---|
| al-Zukhruf 43/12 | tarkabūn — you ride | Active — the human being does it |
| al-Muʾminūn 23/22 | tuḥmalūn — you are carried | Passive — it is done to the human being |
The same phenomenon, in two sūras, in two different voices. And this fits the block as a whole: in everything told since the twelfth verse, the agent of the verb is not the human being.
| Verses | Subject | The shared aspect |
|---|---|---|
| 12-16 | The human being himself | He had no part in his own forming |
| 17 | The seven paths above him | And he has not passed out of being watched over |
| 18 | Water sent down by measure | It is not held in his hand |
| 19-20 | Plants | Dependent on water |
| 21-22 | Animals and the ship | Food and transport |
The direction of the series must be recorded, and I give this as my own reading: it goes from the innermost (the human being's own body) out to the outermost (the heavens) and back in again (what he eats, drinks and rides). And throughout the series the agent of the verbs is one. The same method was treated at al-Wāqiʿa 56/58-72 — there too the seed, the water and the fire were enumerated in turn and at each the question "did you make it?" was put. I rely on that treatment. I record the difference: al-Wāqiʿa asks a question, al-Muʾminūn gives news.