Āl ʿImrān 3:152-153

Wa la-qad ṣadaqakumu'llāhu waʿdahū idh taḥussūnahum bi-idhnihī ḥattā idhā fashiltum wa tanāzaʿtum fi'l-amri wa ʿaṣaytum min baʿdi mā arākum mā tuḥibbūn, minkum man yurīdu'd-dunyā wa minkum man yurīdu'l-ākhira, thumma ṣarafakum ʿanhum li-yabtaliyakum, wa la-qad ʿafā ʿankum, wa'llāhu dhū faḍlin ʿala'l-muʾminīn · Idh tuṣʿidūna wa lā talwūna ʿalā aḥadin wa'r-rasūlu yadʿūkum fī ukhrākum fa-athābakum ghamman bi-ghammin li-kaylā taḥzanū ʿalā mā fātakum wa lā mā aṣābakum, wa'llāhu khabīrun bimā taʿmalūn

"God had indeed made good His promise to you: by His leave you were cutting them down. Until you slackened, and quarrelled over the affair, and disobeyed after He had shown you what you love. Among you were those who wanted this world and those who wanted the hereafter. Then He turned you away from them, to test you; and He has indeed pardoned you. God is bountiful to the believers. · When you were climbing away, turning back for no one, while the messenger was calling you from behind you. So He repaid you with grief upon grief — that you might not sorrow over what you had missed nor over what befell you. God is aware of what you do."

This verse is the second of the three sentences recorded in the introduction as the axis of the sūra, and it carries the densest textual data in the block. It will be treated in detail.

At the centre of the verse stand three verbs, and all three are in the second person plural:

And the subject of all three is the one addressed. This was recorded in the introduction to the sūra.

At 8/45-47 in al-Anfāl this chain was treated, and I rely on it:

Wa lā tanāzaʿū fa-tafshalū wa tadhhaba rīḥukum "Do not quarrel with one another; or you will slacken and your wind will go." And the chain was recorded there: tanāzuʿ (quarrelling) → fashal (slackening) → dhahābu'r-rīḥ (the going of strength). Three steps, in one sentence.

And now I set the two verses side by side. This is a datum verifiable from the text and must be given in a table:

I draw four observations from the table, and all four can be verified from the two texts.

One. The two verses use the same two roots: ن-ز-ع and ف-ش-ل. And the places in the Qurʾān where these two roots stand together are few. In al-Anfāl in the imperative mood, in Āl ʿImrān as an accomplished fact.

Two. Al-Anfāl is a warning; Āl ʿImrān is a record. One says "if you do this, that will happen"; the other says "you did this".

Three. The order is reversed in the two verses, and this must be recorded. In al-Anfāl the quarrelling is the cause and the slackening the consequence (lā tanāzaʿū fa-tafshalū — the fāʾ conveys consequence). In Āl ʿImrān, on the other hand, slackening is counted first and quarrelling after.

I record this as my own reading, and it is not binding: the two orders do not conflict. Al-Anfāl sets up a rule — quarrelling leads to slackening. Āl ʿImrān tells of an event, and in the event the two happened together. The sequence of a rule and the sequence of an event need not be the same.

Four. And the most important difference is at the end. Al-Anfāl ends with a command: wa'ṣbirū. Āl ʿImrān, by contrast, ends with a sentence of pardon: wa la-qad ʿafā ʿankum.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the close of the two verses: a command is put at the end of a warning, because there is still something to be done. A pardon is put at the end of a record, because what has been done cannot be taken back.

And this is a structure repeated throughout the sūra's Uḥud block, and it is seen in three places:

Three occurrences, in a single block. This is a weave verifiable within the sūra.

And the subject of the quarrel is named: fi'l-amr — "over the affair".

And the word al-amr occurs four times in this block, and each time at a different piece of work:

Five occurrences, within thirty-two verses. This is a fact verifiable within the sūra.

And I record this as my own reading, and it is not binding: the same word conveys three separate things in the block — the affair quarrelled over, the owner of the decision, and the affair to be consulted about. And the block sets these in an order: the affair was quarrelled over (152), it was asked and answered whose the affair is (154), and consultation about the affair was commanded (159).

And the pattern of the note is familiar: min baʿdi mā… — for the fourth time in the sūra.

And the fourth stands apart from the others: what comes here is not a knowledge or a proof but the realising of what was wanted.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the four occurrences of the pattern: the sūra uses the same pattern both for the coming of knowledge and for the meeting of a wish. And after both the same thing happens: a breaking down. That is, the sūra says with the same pattern that both knowledge and success are a testing.

And the division is set up this time within the community itself. And the particle is again min.

I record this as an observation about the word order, and it is the sūra's method: the sūra had divided the People of the Book with min (69, 72, 75, 78, 100, 113, 199); now it divides those it addresses with the same particle.

And this is the textual ground of the rule this commentary has kept throughout the sūra: the division is not a measure applied to outsiders; it is a measure the text applies to every community.

Idh tuṣʿidūna wa lā talwūna ʿalā aḥadin wa'r-rasūlu yadʿūkum fī ukhrākum

And the root ل-و-ي must be recorded: the root occurred at verse 78 (yalwūna alsinatahum). Two occurrences, the same root, two different pieces of work:

The concrete sense of the root is at work in both: to twist, to turn. In one the tongue is twisted, in the other the neck is not turned. This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra.

غَمًّۢا بِغَمٍّ — root غ-م-م: to cover, to overspread. Ghamām — cloud (what covers the sky). And ghamm is the grief that covers a person's inside.

And the construction sets two griefs one upon the other: ghamman bi-ghamm. And there is disagreement over its syntax, and it is not to be concealed:

All three are transmitted; I do not impose a preference.

And the ground of the sentence must be recorded: li-kaylā taḥzanū ʿalā mā fātakum wa lā mā aṣābakum — "that you might not sorrow over what you missed nor over what befell you".

I record this as an observation about the word order: the sentence separates two distinct sorrows — over what was not obtained and over what came upon them. And both are grammatically negated.