فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ وَٱنتَظِرْ إِنَّهُم مُّنتَظِرُونَ
فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ — root ع-ر-ض: breadth, width; and from this iʿrāḍ — to turn side on, to turn the breadth of the face away. The root was treated in Fuṣṣilat 41/4 (fa-aʿraḍa aktharuhum) and 41/51 (naʾā bi-jānibih). I do not repeat it here.
And there is a reversal worth recording: in Fuṣṣilat iʿrāḍ was the act of the other side. Here the same verb is commanded to the one addressed. The same root, in two directions: one a turning away from the text, the other a turning away from the one who turns away.
A note per the method (Method): from this I draw no ruling of estrangement or of wholesale abandonment. The context of the sentence is plain: in the twenty-eighth verse a date was asked for, and in the twenty-ninth an answer was given. Iʿrāḍ is the not-continuing of the argument.
In al-Dukhān 44/59 the close of that sūra was built with the same structure, and this verse was already mentioned there. I rely on that treatment and carry the comparison over here, to its own place:
| Sūra | Close | Root |
|---|---|---|
| al-Dukhān 44/59 | Fa'rtaqib innahum murtaqibūn | ر-ق-ب |
| al-Sajda 32/30 | Fa-aʿriḍ ʿanhum wa'ntaẓir innahum muntaẓirūn | ن-ظ-ر |
The difference between the two roots was tabulated in al-Dukhān, and its summary was this:
| Root | Core | What it states |
|---|---|---|
| ن-ظ-ر | To look | Looking; and in Form IV, to grant a respite |
| ر-ق-ب | To watch out for | To watch a thing so as not to miss it; raqaba — the neck |
One. In the close of al-Sajda there is one command more: fa-aʿriḍ ʿanhum. Al-Dukhān passes straight to the waiting; al-Sajda commands first a breaking off and then a waiting. The two verbs set up a sequence: first withdrawal from the argument, then waiting.
Two. The choice of root fits the sūra's own words. In the twenty-ninth verse wa lā hum yunẓarūn had occurred — the same root, in the sense "no respite is granted".
| Verse | Word | Pattern | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | Yunẓarūn | Form IV, passive | No respite is granted |
| 30 | Intaẓir | Form VIII, imperative | Wait |
| 30 | Muntaẓirūn | Form VIII, active participle | Those who wait |
The same root, three times in two verses. I record this as my own reading, and its ground is this threefold repetition: the twenty-ninth verse says that there is no respite; the thirtieth commands waiting. That is, the sūra commands not a waiting without an end but a waiting whose end has been stated. The length of the waiting is not known; what will happen when it ends is known.
And the observation recorded in al-Dukhān works here too: the sentence does not say "you wait, and they will be destroyed". It joins both sides in the same verb — muntaẓirūn, the plural active participle of the same form. The difference will appear not in the act but at the end of the act.