al-Nūr 24:36-38

Fī buyūtin adhina'llāhu an turfaʿa wa yudhkara fīha'smuh, yusabbiḥu lahū fīhā bi'l-ghuduwwi wa'l-āṣāl · Rijālun lā tulhīhim tijāratun wa lā bayʿun ʿan dhikri'llāhi wa iqāmi'l-ṣalāti wa ītāʾi'l-zakāh, yakhāfūna yawman tataqallabu fīhi'l-qulūbu wa'l-abṣār · Li-yajziyahumu'llāhu aḥsana mā ʿamilū wa yazīdahum min faḍlih, wa'llāhu yarzuqu man yashāʾu bi-ghayri ḥisāb

"(That lamp is) in houses God has given leave to be raised, and that His name be mentioned in them. In them He is glorified morning and evening by men whom neither trade nor commerce turns away from the remembrance of God, from the keeping up of the prayer and the giving of the alms. They fear a day on which hearts and eyes will be turned about — that God may reward them for the best of what they did, and increase them of His bounty. God provides for whom He wills without reckoning."

The verse says where the lamp of the parable is: fī buyūt — "in houses".

And the word had occurred seven verses earlier in an altogether different task.

And the wording in the thirty-sixth verse is worth noting: adhina'llāhu — "God gave leave".

The word for leave (أ-ذ-ن), that is, occurs in two distinct places in the sūra, and in both it has to do with a house:

I record this ring as my own reading; the two occurrences of the root and their subjects stand in the text.

رَفَعَ — root ر-ف-ع: to raise. The root was analysed at al-Ḥujurāt, 49/2 (lā tarfaʿū aṣwātakum).

And there is a contrast between the two usages that is worth noting:

The same verb, the one forbidden and the other permitted. I record this as an observation about the word order.

And two explanations of what the verb turfaʿa means are transmitted in the classical commentaries:

The two explanations do not exclude one another, and I impose no preference.

أَلْهَىٰ — root ل-ه-و: to be diverted, to have one's attention drawn elsewhere. Lahw — what diverts. The root was analysed at al-Takāthur, 102/1 (alhākumu'l-takāthur).

And the choice of the verb is worth noting: the verse does not say "they do not trade". It says "trade does not turn them away".

What is censured, that is, is not trade but trade's holding the attention. This distinction is read from the text and agrees with the measure recorded at al-Jumuʿa, 62/11.

The difference between تِجَارَة and بَيْع is recorded in the classical commentaries thus: tijāra is a continuing occupation, bayʿ a single transaction of buying and selling. The verse, that is, names both the continuing and the momentary.

I transmit this distinction as an explanation that is transmitted.

تَقَلَّبَ — root ق-ل-ب: to turn, to turn upside down. And from the same root comes qalb (the heart) — the connection the lexicographers draw: the heart is what turns continually from state to state.

In the verse two derivatives of the root stand side by side: tataqallabu and al-qulūb. A jinās (the standing together of words from one root) is formed.

And the word al-abṣār forms a ring with the glance of the thirtieth and thirty-first verses:

The sūra first records man's will over the eye, then names the place where that will ends.

I record this as my own reading; the places of the words stand in the text.

The expression is worth noting: aḥsana mā ʿamilū — "the best of what they did".

The recompense, that is, is given not according to the average of what was done but according to the best of it. And on top of that an increase is added: wa yazīdahum min faḍlih.

بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ — "without reckoning". The word can be understood in two ways, and both are transmitted in the classical commentaries: without measure, without limit, or without being brought to account. I impose no preference.