إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ هُم مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ رَبِّهِم مُّشْفِقُونَ · وَٱلَّذِينَ هُم بِـَٔايَٰتِ رَبِّهِمْ يُؤْمِنُونَ · وَٱلَّذِينَ هُم بِرَبِّهِمْ لَا يُشْرِكُونَ
inna'lladhīna hum min khashyati rabbihim mushfiqūn · wa'lladhīna hum bi-āyāti rabbihim yuʾminūn · wa'lladhīna hum bi-rabbihim lā yushrikūn
"Those who tremble in awe of their Lord; those who believe in the signs of their Lord; those who associate nothing with their Lord…"
The pattern of the sūra's first eleven verses returns here unchanged: alladhīna hum + fronted complement + predicate.
| The first list (1-11) | The second list (57-61) | |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | qad aflaḥa'l-muʾminūn — the verdict first | inna'lladhīna hum… — the verdict at the end |
| Number of items | Six (2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9) | Four (57, 58, 59, 60) |
| The kind of items | Acts — prayer, speech, property, body, covenant | States — trembling, faith, tawḥīd, the quaking of the heart |
| Closing | ulāʾika humu'l-wārithūn (10) | ulāʾika yusāriʿūna fi'l-khayrāt (61) |
| The kind of closing | A place — al-Firdaws | A movement — yusāriʿūn, sābiqūn |
| Shared by every item | hum, the pronoun of separation | hum, the pronoun of separation (57, 58, 59 — absent at 60) |
I record one difference separately: the sixtieth verse is the one item of the list that does not carry the pronoun hum — wa'lladhīna yuʾtūna mā ātaw. This is a detail that can be verified from the text, and it will be taken up at the sixtieth verse.
I record this as my own reading, its ground being the table above: the first list enumerates the works done, the second what is inside while the works are done. And the first list ends with an arrival (an inheritance), the second with a running (a race). One names the outcome, that is, the other the movement.
خَشْيَة — root خ-ش-ي: the description the lexicographers give is a holding back that is felt knowingly. Khashya has to do with knowing the greatness of what is feared; thus at Fāṭir 35/28 it is said innamā yakhsha'llāha min ʿibādihi'l-ʿulamāʾ. The root was treated at Fāṭir 35/28 and at al-Mulk 67/12 (yakhshawna rabbahum bi'l-ghayb).
And a note of caution must be entered here: the root of this word (خ-ش-ي) and the root of the word khāshiʿūn in the second verse (خ-ش-ع) are separate roots. Their sounds are close and their senses are neighbours; but I build no derivational link between them.
The same note of caution was entered in ʿAbasa and in al-Muṭaffifīn for roots close to one another in sound: "closeness of sound is not identity of root." I rely on that treatment.
مُشْفِقُون — root ش-ف-ق: the core sense the lexicographers give is thinness. Shafaq — the thin light between day and night; shafaqa — the thinness of a thing. And ishfāq is described by the lexicographers as follows: a fear with love in it, or a love with fear in it. The root was treated at al-Inshiqāq 84/16 (fa-lā uqsimu bi'l-shafaq).
The build of the construction must be recorded: min khashyati rabbihim mushfiqūn — the source of the fear (khashya) and the state that is felt (ishfāq) are named separately.
I record this as my own reading, its ground being that both words have at their core not "shuddering" but "thinness / knowing": the verse is not speaking of terror. Both words are words that describe a sharpening of attention.
And the word order must be recorded: bi-āyāti rabbihim has been brought forward. Not "they believe", that is, but "in the signs of their Lord — they believe".
And a contrast will be built with the sixty-sixth verse: qad kānat āyātī tutlā ʿalaykum fa-kuntum ʿalā aʿqābikum tankiṣūn. The same word (āyāt), with two different bearings.
And the repetition of the word rabb must be recorded: in all four of the four items, rabbihim occurs — khashyati rabbihim, āyāti rabbihim, bi-rabbihim, ilā rabbihim (60).
This is a fact that can be counted from the text, and it has no counterpart in the first list: the word rabb does not occur in a single one of the six items of the first list.
| The first list | The second list | |
|---|---|---|
| The word rabb | It does not occur at all | In all four of the four items |
| The subject of the items | Acts — prayer, property, body | A relation — always looking in one direction |
I record this as my own reading, its ground being this count: the second list builds its items by attaching them to one addressed. The first list enumerates the acts on their own. The difference between the two lists shows here as well.