فَٱصْبِرْ إِنَّ وَعْدَ ٱللَّهِ حَقٌّ وَلَا يَسْتَخِفَّنَّكَ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُوقِنُونَ
The sūra had opened with a promise — fī biḍʿi sinīn (3-4) — and in the sixth verse that promise was named: waʿda'llāh, lā yukhlifu'llāhu waʿdah.
| Verse | Expression | Mood |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Waʿda'llāh, lā yukhlifu'llāhu waʿdah | A notification — the promise is not broken |
| 60 | Inna waʿda'llāhi ḥaqq | A ground — the reason for patience |
The same word, at the two ends of the sūra. This is a repetition that can be verified from the text.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is this ring: in the sixth verse the promise was the ground of the historical announcement of the second. In the sixtieth verse the same promise becomes the ground of a command about conduct. The sūra opens with an announcement and closes by saying what that announcement requires a person to do.
The root was analysed at al-Qāriʿa 101/8 and treated in detail at al-Zukhruf 43/54 (fa'stakhaffa qawmahu); it was mentioned in al-Nāziʿāt as well. I do not repeat it here.
A summary of what was recorded there: the root is to be light. Istakhaffa — to count light, to belittle, to take lightly. And as was recorded in the discussion of al-Qāriʿa, in Arabic the same root carries both lightness on the scales and the failure to take a thing seriously; English has the same relation: to make light of something.
And it was tabulated at al-Zukhruf 43/54 that the lexicographers record a second sense for istakhaffa as well, and that the exegetes differ between the two. The verse here is the clearest instance of that second sense:
| Sense | What istakhaffa means | In al-Rūm 30/60 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | To count light, to belittle | "Let them not belittle you / take you lightly" |
| 2 | To shift a thing from its place, to sweep it away — to lift and carry off something light with ease | "Let them not shift you from your place, let them not sweep you away" |
But I record that the second sense has a strong ground in the word order here, and I give this as an observation: the subject of the sentence is they (alladhīna lā yūqinūn), its object is you (-ka). That is, the verb conveys something the other side would do upon the one addressed. In the first sense the verb is an assessment (they count you light); in the second it is an effect (they shift you from your place). And the sentence comes immediately after a command (fa'ṣbir — be patient): the opposite of patience is not staying in place.
At al-Zukhruf 43/54 the same verb was applied to a people (fa'stakhaffa qawmahu fa-aṭāʿūh — he made light of his people, and they obeyed him). The two places can be set side by side:
| Place | Who, and whom | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| al-Zukhruf 43/54 | A ruler, his people | Fa-aṭāʿūh — they obeyed |
| al-Rūm 30/60 | A crowd, a single person | Lā yastakhiffannak — a prohibition |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the difference of direction: in al-Zukhruf the making light runs from above downward and its counterpart is obedience. In al-Rūm it runs from below upward and its counterpart is forbidden. The same verb, in two directions: the one an event that happened, the other something commanded not to happen.
ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُوقِنُونَ — the root ي-ق-ن: the absence of any doubt. And the choice of the word must be recorded: the sentence does not say "those who do not believe", it says "those who do not know with certainty".
This overlaps with the seventh verse of the sūra and closes the ring: there the other side had been described as yaʿlamūna ẓāhiran — they had knowledge, and it was on the surface. In the last verse the same side is named lā yūqinūn — not having reached certainty. The two descriptions say the same thing: there is knowledge, and it is not firm enough to stand on.
And the command itself must be recorded: fa'ṣbir. As was recorded in al-Maʿārij, the name of the distance between the waiting and the outcome is patience. al-Rūm arrives at the same place: in the second verse an outcome was announced, and in the sixtieth the awaiting of that outcome is commanded.