وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَا مُوسَى ٱلْكِتَٰبَ فَلَا تَكُن فِى مِرْيَةٍ مِّن لِّقَآئِهِۦ وَجَعَلْنَٰهُ هُدًى لِّبَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ · وَجَعَلْنَا مِنْهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَهْدُونَ بِأَمْرِنَا لَمَّا صَبَرُوا۟ وَكَانُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا يُوقِنُونَ · إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ يَفْصِلُ بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ فِيمَا كَانُوا۟ فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ
Wa laqad ātaynā Mūsa'l-kitāba fa-lā takun fī miryatin min liqāʾihī wa jaʿalnāhu hudan li-banī Isrāʾīl · Wa jaʿalnā minhum aʾimmatan yahdūna bi-amrinā lammā ṣabarū wa kānū bi-āyātinā yūqinūn · Inna rabbaka huwa yafṣilu baynahum yawma'l-qiyāmati fīmā kānū fīhi yakhtalifūn
"Assuredly We gave Moses the Book. Do not you be in doubt about the meeting with him. We made it a guidance for the Children of Israel. When they were patient, We raised up among them leaders who guided by Our command; and they were certain of Our verses. On the Day of Resurrection your Lord will give the decision between them concerning that in which they differed."
مِرْيَة — root: م-ر-ي. It was analysed in Fuṣṣilat 41/54, and the concrete sense recorded by the lexicographers was given there: to squeeze and pull at an animal's udder in milking; from this comes the sense "to wrangle over a matter, to waver in doubt". I do not repeat it here.
| Place | Expression | Who is in doubt |
|---|---|---|
| Fuṣṣilat 41/54 | Alā innahum fī miryatin min liqāʾi rabbihim | The other side — a declarative sentence |
| al-Sajda 32/23 | Fa-lā takun fī miryatin min liqāʾih | The one addressed — a prohibition |
The same word, one a ruling and one a command. I record this as my own reading; its ground is the difference of mood between the two sentences: Fuṣṣilat states the condition of the other side, while al-Sajda addresses the Prophet. And the pattern of prohibition states not that the doubt exists but that it is a place one must not be in. This use is widespread in Arabic, and the lexicographers generally explain it as an address to the community by way of the one addressed; I transmit this explanation as it has been transmitted.
There is a disagreement in this verse, and it must not be concealed: liqāʾih — "the meeting with him" — the referent of the pronoun is not stated.
| Reading | To whom the pronoun belongs | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | To the Book (al-kitāb) | There is no doubt that Moses received the Book / the meeting with the Book |
| 2 | To Moses | The meeting with Moses |
| 3 | To God | The meeting with the Lord — the same as liqāʾi rabbihim in verse 10 of the sūra |
All three readings are transmitted in the classical works of exegesis. I do not impose a preference.
But I record that the third reading has a ground from within the sūra, and I give this as an observation: in the tenth verse bi-liqāʾi rabbihim kāfirūn occurred. The same word, in the same sūra, thirteen verses apart. This is not a preference but an overlap that can be verified from the text.
أَئِمَّة — the plural of imām; root أ-م-م: to head towards, to aim at. Amma'l-makāna — he headed for that place. And imām means "the one headed towards, the one who stands in front and towards whom the one behind heads". From the same root come umma (a community that looks in one common direction) and amām (the front).
The picture in the word is worth recording: an imām is not one who commands but one who stands in front. And the verse limits this at once: yahdūna bi-amrinā — "they guide by Our command". That is, the guiding is not out of the leader's own source.
| Reading | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | لَمَّا — lammā | "When they were patient" — it states a time |
| 2 | لِمَا — limā (lām with kasra, mīm without shadda) | "Because of their patience" — it states a cause |
The difference is worth recording: on the first, leadership falls at the same time as the patience; on the second, patience becomes the cause of leadership. The second reading brings the verse closer to a sentence stating a rule.
And what is common to both readings is this, and I record it as my own reading: within the word order of the verse leadership stands in the position of a result — after the verb jaʿalnā two conditions come: patience and certainty (kānū bi-āyātinā yūqinūn). That is, the verse recounts leadership not by way of a lineage, an office or an appointment, but by way of two inward attributes.
| Verse | Who | Expression |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Al-mujrimūn | Innā mūqinūn — "now we know for certain", in the scene |
| 24 | Aʾimma | Kānū bi-āyātinā yūqinūn — continuity, in the world |
The same root (ي-ق-ن), two separate times. I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the tenses of the verbs: in the twelfth verse yaqīn is given by a nominal sentence, as a state reached at that moment; in the twenty-fourth by kānū … yūqinūn, as a state that had gone on. What the sūra separates is not the presence of certainty but when it was acquired.
The root ف-ص-ل has been analysed in many places in the series — in al-Mursalāt and al-Nabaʾ in the context of yawmu'l-faṣl, and in Fuṣṣilat 41/3 with the tafṣīl pattern. I do not repeat it here. The core: to separate two things from one another, to put a distance between them.
And the line of leaving a disagreement to the judgement has been treated in several places in the series: al-Baqara 2/213 and 2/253, al-Jāthiya 45/17, Fuṣṣilat 41/45, al-Zumar 39/3 and 39/46. In all of them the same thing is said: the disagreement arises after the Book has come; and its judgement is deferred. I rely on those treatments.
What belongs here is the emphasis in the sentence: inna rabbaka huwa yafṣilu — the pronoun huwa comes in between. In Arabic this pronoun coming between subject and predicate is called ḍamīr al-faṣl (the pronoun of separation) and conveys restriction: "the one who will do the separating is He alone."
The play on words is worth recording, and I give it as an observation about the language: to fix the subject of the verb faṣl (separating), the pronoun of faṣl is used. The same root, one in the ruling and one in the grammar.