Āl ʿImrān 3:133-136

Wa sāriʿū ilā maghfiratin min rabbikum wa jannatin ʿarḍuha's-samāwātu wa'l-arḍu uʿiddat li'l-muttaqīn · Alladhīna yunfiqūna fi's-sarrāʾi wa'ḍ-ḍarrāʾi wa'l-kāẓimīna'l-ghayẓa wa'l-ʿāfīna ʿani'n-nās, wa'llāhu yuḥibbu'l-muḥsinīn · Wa'lladhīna idhā faʿalū fāḥishatan aw ẓalamū anfusahum dhakaru'llāha fa'staghfarū li-dhunūbihim wa man yaghfiru'dh-dhunūba illa'llāh, wa lam yuṣirrū ʿalā mā faʿalū wa hum yaʿlamūn

"Race towards forgiveness from your Lord and towards a garden whose breadth is the heavens and the earth, prepared for those who guard themselves. · They are those who spend in ease and in hardship, who swallow their anger and who pardon people. God loves those who do good. · And those who, when they commit an indecency or wrong themselves, remember God and ask forgiveness for their sins — and who forgives sins but God? — and who do not persist in what they did, knowing what it was."

The root س-ر-ع: speed. And the verb is in Form III (mufāʿala, sāraʿa): in Arabic this form conveys reciprocity and competition.

I record this as an observation about the word: the command means not "hurry" but "race". And racing requires the presence of another.

And the same root was used at verse 114 of a community from among the People of the Book: wa yusāriʿūna fi'l-khayrāt. Two occurrences, the same form:

This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra. And I record this as my own reading, and it is not binding: an act described as what others do is, nineteen verses later, commanded to the one addressed.

And the measure used in describing the garden must be recorded: ʿarḍuha's-samāwātu wa'l-arḍ — "its breadth is the heavens and the earth". And the word ʿarḍ (breadth) has been chosen; not ṭūl (length). The same measure is at 57/21 in al-Ḥadīd as well (ʿarḍuhā ka-ʿarḍi's-samāʾi wa'l-arḍ). Two sūras use the same measure.

And the word order of the first attribute must be recorded: fi's-sarrāʾi wa'ḍ-ḍarrāʾi — two opposite conditions. س-ر-ر (joy, ease) and ض-ر-ر (harm, hardship). The two words are on the same measure (faʿlāʾ) and are alike in sound as well. That is, by putting the two extremes into the same pattern the sentence makes spending independent of circumstance.

The root was analysed in detail at 68/48 in al-Qalam (makẓūm), tabulated by difference of pattern at 43/17-18 in al-Zukhruf, and treated at 12/84 in Yūsuf (kaẓīm) and at 40/18 in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) (kāẓimīn). I rely on those treatments and do not repeat them. A summary of what was recorded there:

The concrete sense of the root: kaẓama'l-qirba — he filled a waterskin and tied its mouth. That is, a vessel filled and stopped at the mouth. The pressure inside is there; but it cannot get out. The difference of pattern: makẓūm is a passive participle — stopped from outside; kaẓīm is the intensive on faʿīl — one who ties his own mouth shut.

And there are three notes belonging here.

One. The pattern here is kāẓim — an active participle. That is, the word conveys the one who is doing the work. Makẓūm is passive, kaẓīm is intensive; kāẓim is the one performing the act.

Three patterns, one root — and this distinction was tabulated in al-Qalam and al-Zukhruf.

Two. And the object of the word is al-ghayẓ. It was recorded in al-Mulk: ghayẓ is swallowed anger. And at 68/48 in al-Qalam the tension between these two was dealt with honestly — in one place the Qurʾān praises the swallowing of anger (this verse), and in another a prophet "calling out while his anger was swallowed" is named as a negative example. I rely on the analysis there and do not repeat it.

Three. And the real note belonging here is the order in the list, and I give it as my own reading:

The second attribute is holding in (kāẓim); the third attribute is letting go (ʿāfī).

The root ع-ف-و: to wipe away, to leave no trace; and from this, to pardon. The lexicographers give as an instance the wind's wiping away a trace: ʿafati'r-rīḥu'l-athar.

And the two verbs do not look in the same direction: one blocks the exit, the other does away with what is inside.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the picture of the two roots: holding anger in does not mean that the anger has ended — the skin is still full. Pardoning, on the other hand, empties what is full. The order is meaningful for this reason: first not letting it out, then not keeping it in.

And the note ʿani'n-nās: the pardon is opened to everyone, without its being said from whom. The same note of breadth is in the sūra as li'n-nās at verses 96 and 110 as well.

Wa lam yuṣirrū ʿalā mā faʿalū wa hum yaʿlamūn

The root ص-ر-ر: to bind oneself to a thing and keep at it, to hold tight. And the same root occurred at verse 117 as ṣirr (a searing cold) — and there too there was an idea of pressing in the root. Two occurrences, the same root, two different derivatives.

And the note itself must be recorded: the list sets no condition of sinlessness. The attribute is not not committing an indecency; it is not persisting after having committed one.

I record this as an observation about the word order: the conditional sentence begins with idhā faʿalū — "when they have done it". That is, the act is assumed to have taken place. The measure lies not in whether the event happens but in what is done after it.