al-Nūr 24:34

Wa laqad anzalnā ilaykum āyātin mubayyinātin wa mathalan mina'lladhīna khalaw min qablikum wa mawʿiẓatan li'l-muttaqīn

"We have surely sent down to you clear verses, and an example from those who passed away before you, and an admonition for those who guard themselves."

This verse does two things at once, and its place in the arrangement is worth noting.

One. It closes the fourth block (27-34) — in the language of the first verse: anzalnā … āyātin mubayyināt. In the first verse it was anzalnā fīhā āyātin bayyināt. The same verb, the same object, a different adjectival form.

Two. And it says one word: mathal. The next verse is the sūra's most famous mathal.

مَثَل — root م-ث-ل: to resemble, to be an example. Mithl — a like; timthāl — an image. And mathal: a comparison framed in order to tell of something, an example.

And the placing of the word here opens the door of the thirty-fifth verse.

The root three times, within two verses. And the last clause of the thirty-fifth verse says so outright: wa yaḍribu'llāhu'l-amthāla li'l-nās — "God coins likenesses for people".

I record this as an observation about the word order.

In the first verse bayyināt, here mubayyināt.

The difference is one of transitivity: the one conveys its own clarity, the other the work of making something else clear.

And in the classical sources on the variant readings it is also transmitted that the word is read mubayyanāt (a passive participle — "made clear"). Since I cannot state with certainty which reader read which, I write no names.

What the three forms together say may be recorded: the verses are clear in themselves, they make other things clear, and they have themselves been made clear.

I record this as an observation about the form.

The verse divides what has been sent down into three, and the addressee of each of the three differs:

And the narrowing of the third one's addressee is worth noting.

Mawʿiẓa — root و-ع-ظ; analysed at the seventeenth verse: reminding and holding back. And an admonition is an admonition only for one who will take it. The verse says this with a word: li'l-muttaqīn.

This agrees with a measure recorded in the classical commentaries: the same text does different work according to its addressee. It was recorded at al-Aḥqāf, 46/12: "the same text does two distinct works according to its addressee" — warning and glad tidings.