Āl ʿImrān 3:14-17

Zuyyina li'n-nāsi ḥubbu'sh-shahawāti mina'n-nisāʾi wa'l-banīna wa'l-qanāṭīri'l-muqanṭarati mina'dh-dhahabi wa'l-fiḍḍati wa'l-khayli'l-musawwamati wa'l-anʿāmi wa'l-ḥarth, dhālika matāʿu'l-ḥayāti'd-dunyā, wa'llāhu ʿindahū ḥusnu'l-maʾāb

"The love of the things desired has been made fair-seeming to people: women, sons, hoarded heaps of gold and silver, branded horses, cattle and tilled land. These are the provision of the life of this world; with God is the good place of return."

The verb is passive: "was made fair-seeming." The agent is not named.

I record this as an observation about the word order, and the classical commentaries have dwelt on it: the sentence does not name the one who adorns. Some exegetes read this as a natural disposition, others as the work of Satan. Both are transmitted; I do not impose a preference.

And the object of the sentence must be recorded: what is made fair-seeming is not the objects listed but ḥubbu'sh-shahawāt — the love of them. There are two steps: the object, and the love felt for the object. The verse takes the second as its subject.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the construction itself: the verse disparages none of the things listed — child, wealth, animal, tilled land. The next sentence confirms this: dhālika matāʿu'l-ḥayāti'd-dunyā — "these are the provision of the life of this world." Matāʿ is not a bad word; it means what is used, what is drawn benefit from. What is at issue is not the existence of these things but the kind of bond between them and a person.

The root ق-ن-ط-ر. Qinṭār — a large quantity; the lexicographers transmit different measures and do not agree on any definite amount. I give no figure in this commentary.

And the construction is worth recording: al-qanāṭīru'l-muqanṭara — a noun and an adjective from the same root. In Arabic this is called emphasis: "heaps heaped up".

The word will occur once more in the sūra, at verse 75 — there as a measure of trust: man in taʾmanhu bi-qinṭārin yuʾaddihī ilayk. This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra, and the work of the two occurrences differs:

I record this as my own reading, and it is not binding: the sūra names the same large quantity twice — once as possession, once as a trust. And in the second occurrence what is measured is not the amount of the property but the conduct of the one holding it.

The root س-و-م: to mark; and to turn loose (to pasture). Both senses are transmitted:

Both are transmitted; I do not impose a preference.

The fifteenth verse sets a list against the list (jannātun tajrī min taḥtiha'l-anhār), and the seventeenth verse counts five attributes:

The word order of the five must be recorded: all five are active participles — that is, they convey not an act but a continuance. In Arabic the active participle conveys the one who is doing the work and the one characterised by that work.

بِٱلْأَسْحَارِ — root س-ح-ر: saḥar, the last part of the night. The word was treated at 54/34 in al-Qamar (najjaynāhum bi-saḥar).

I record this as an observation: four of the five attributes are without a time; to the last of them a time is added. And that time is the time when one is least seen. The list closes with an act that has no visibility.

And a comparison can be made with the list in the fourteenth verse — I give this as my own reading: the first list counts things possessed, the second counts things done. In the first a person is the subject but there is no verb (zuyyina — passive); in the second there are five active participles. That is, the sūra draws a distinction between "having" and "doing".