وَإِذَا مَسَّ ٱلنَّاسَ ضُرٌّ دَعَوْا۟ رَبَّهُم مُّنِيبِينَ إِلَيْهِ ثُمَّ إِذَآ أَذَاقَهُم مِّنْهُ رَحْمَةً إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُم بِرَبِّهِمْ يُشْرِكُونَ · لِيَكْفُرُوا۟ بِمَآ ءَاتَيْنَٰهُمْ فَتَمَتَّعُوا۟ فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ · أَمْ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطَٰنًا فَهُوَ يَتَكَلَّمُ بِمَا كَانُوا۟ بِهِۦ يُشْرِكُونَ · وَإِذَآ أَذَقْنَا ٱلنَّاسَ رَحْمَةً فَرِحُوا۟ بِهَا وَإِن تُصِبْهُمْ سَيِّئَةٌۢ بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ إِذَا هُمْ يَقْنَطُونَ · أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَبْسُطُ ٱلرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ وَيَقْدِرُ
Wa idhā massa'n-nāsa ḍurrun daʿaw rabbahum munībīna ilayhi thumma idhā adhāqahum minhu raḥmatan idhā farīqun minhum bi-rabbihim yushrikūn · Li-yakfurū bimā ātaynāhum fa-tamattaʿū fa-sawfa taʿlamūn · Am anzalnā ʿalayhim sulṭānan fa-huwa yatakallamu bimā kānū bihi yushrikūn · Wa idhā adhaqna'n-nāsa raḥmatan fariḥū bihā wa in tuṣibhum sayyiʾatun bimā qaddamat aydīhim idhā hum yaqnaṭūn · A-wa-lam yaraw anna'llāha yabsuṭu'r-rizqa li-man yashāʾu wa yaqdir
"When some distress touches people, they call upon their Lord, turning to Him. Then, when He gives them a taste of mercy from Himself, there you are — a group of them associate partners with their Lord — so as to deny what We have given them. Enjoy yourselves, then; you will soon know. Or have We sent down upon them an authority, so that it is this that speaks of what they associate with Him? When We give people a taste of mercy they rejoice in it; and when an evil befalls them for what their own hands have sent ahead, they fall into despair. Have they not seen that God spreads out provision for whom He wills, and straitens it?"
In the thirty-first verse munībīna ilayh stood in the context of a command: stand turned towards Him.
In the thirty-third verse the same word comes back as a description — and a turning away is recounted after it:
| Stage | Expression | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Idhā massa'n-nāsa ḍurrun | Distress touches them |
| 2 | Daʿaw rabbahum munībīna ilayh | They turn — the word of verse 31 |
| 3 | Thumma idhā adhāqahum minhu raḥma | Mercy is tasted |
| 4 | Idhā farīqun minhum … yushrikūn | A part of them turns back |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the recurrence of the word two verses apart: the sūra says that the state it commanded in the thirty-first verse is already present in man — but conditionally. That is, what is lacking is not the turning but the continuance of the turning. And the idea of "turning back over and over" in the root ināba conveyed exactly this.
فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُم — it must be recorded: "a group of them". The sentence does not cover them all. It runs in the same direction as the finding recorded at Fāṭir 35/32: the verse does not characterise a community as a single piece.
ذُوق / أَذَاقَ — root ذ-و-ق: to taste. And the verb occurs twice in this block: adhāqahum … raḥmatan (33) and adhaqna'n-nāsa raḥmatan (36). The choice of the word is worth recording, and I give it as an observation: to taste is a slight and direct contact — not to own. The verse mentions mercy not as a possession but as a tasting.
The root ق-ن-ط was treated at Fuṣṣilat 41/49 (fa-yaʾūsun qanūṭ) and the distinction between yaʾs and qunūṭ was transmitted there. I do not repeat it here. The core: the complete cutting off of hope, the settling in of despondency.
And the portrait described at Fuṣṣilat 41/49-51 is almost the same as this verse. The two places must be set side by side:
| Fuṣṣilat 41/49-51 | al-Rūm 30/36 | |
|---|---|---|
| When the favour comes | Aʿraḍa wa naʾā bi-jānibih — he turns aside | Fariḥū bihā — they rejoice |
| When evil touches | Fa-yaʾūsun qanūṭ — despairing and despondent | Idhā hum yaqnaṭūn — they fall into despair |
| Additional note | Fa-dhū duʿāʾin ʿarīḍ — prayer at length and breadth | Bimā qaddamat aydīhim — by their own hands |
One. In Fuṣṣilat the reaction to the favour is turning aside; in al-Rūm it is rejoicing. And al-Rūm's word is the finer one: rejoicing is not a failing — the failing lies in where the rejoicing is attached. The sūra had already established this in the thirty-second verse.
Two. al-Rūm adds a note: bimā qaddamat aydīhim — for what their own hands have sent ahead. In Fuṣṣilat the source of the evil was not stated; al-Rūm states it. And this construct will come back in almost the same words in the forty-first verse: bimā kasabat aydi'n-nās.
أَمْ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطَٰنًا فَهُوَ يَتَكَلَّمُ — "or have We sent down an authority, so that it is this that speaks?"
سُلْطَان — root س-ل-ط: power, dominion; and the binding force of an argument. The word frequently occurs in the Qurʾān in the sense of "a warrant, a decisive proof".
The sentence has a mocking structure, and it must be recorded: fa-huwa yatakallamu — "is it this that speaks?" The proof is mentioned as though it were a being that talks.
I record this as an observation: the verse asks the other side for a ground, and it characterises the ground as being able to speak. It was treated at al-Jāthiya 45/29 that the book is mentioned with the verb yanṭiqu (it speaks) — there it was the record that spoke. Here it is said, by way of a question, that no such record exists.
يَبْسُطُ ٱلرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ وَيَقْدِرُ — ب-س-ط (to spread out, to open) and ق-د-ر (to measure, to straiten) face one another. The "straitening" branch of the root ق-د-ر was treated at al-Fajr 89/16 (fa-qadara ʿalayhi rizqah). I do not repeat it here.
And the placing of this verse at the end of the block is worth recording: the block had been recounting the reactions to distress and to relief. The closing says that both come from the same hand.