مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ٱلْعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ ٱلْعِزَّةُ جَمِيعًا إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ ٱلْكَلِمُ ٱلطَّيِّبُ وَٱلْعَمَلُ ٱلصَّٰلِحُ يَرْفَعُهُۥ
"Whoever wants might: all might belongs to God. To Him the good word ascends; and the righteous deed He raises up."
The sentence begins by granting a desire: man kāna yurīdu'l-ʿizza — "whoever wants might". The desire is not refused; its address is corrected.
The same structure had been used for intercession in al-Zumar at 39/43: qul li'llāhi'sh-shafāʿatu jamīʿan — intercession is not denied, its owner is stated. The two verses share the same pattern, and both end with the word jamīʿan (the whole of it).
| Reading | The pronoun in yarfaʿuhū | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The righteous deed raises the word | The word rises by the deed |
| 2 | God raises the righteous deed | It is He who raises |
| 3 | The good word raises the deed | The intention carries the deed |
But the first reading says something worth recording, and I give it as an observation: the word does not rise of itself; what carries it upward is the deed. The word order of the sentence is favourable to this reading, since al-ʿamalu'ṣ-ṣāliḥ and yarfaʿuhū stand side by side.