al-Ṣāffāt 37:102

Fa-lammā balagha maʿahu's-saʿya qāla yā bunayya innī arā fi'l-manāmi annī adhbaḥuka fa'nẓur mādhā tarā. Qāla yā abati'fʿal mā tuʾmar, sa-tajidunī in shāʾa'llāhu mina'ṣ-ṣābirīn

"When he reached the age of walking about with him, he said: 'My dear son, I see in my sleep that I am sacrificing you; look, then, what do you say?' He said: 'My dear father, do what you are commanded. God willing, you will find me among the steadfast.'"

And this construction occurs only here in the Qurʾān. It announces the child's age not by a number but by a verb.

Balagha — root ب-ل-غ: to reach a place, to arrive. Bulūgh — reaching. The root was treated at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/56 (mā hum bi-bālighīh) and 40/67 (li-tablughū ashuddakum).

Saʿy — root س-ع-ي. The root was treated at al-Nāziʿāt 79/22 (thumma adbara yasʿā), in al-Layl and at al-Najm 53/39 (wa an laysa li'l-insāni illā mā saʿā). I rely on those treatments.

The definition there: the original picture of the root is to walk fast — not to run, but faster than an ordinary walk. And the word takes its sense of "to work, to strive" from this: to go quickly to and fro for a task.

And the structure of the construction is worth noting: balagha maʿahu's-saʿya — "he reached [the age of] walking with him".

A point of word order: the expression maʿahu (with him) has come between balagha and al-saʿy. What is reached, that is, is not "walking" but "walking with him".

What does this mean? The classical explanations:

All three are transmitted and do not exclude one another. I give no number for the age — the verse gives none, and the numbers in the classical sources do not agree.

I record this as my own reading: at the centre of the construction is being together. The child is now someone who can walk beside his father. And at exactly this point what is asked of the father is to bring that togetherness to an end. The time of the scene is the first moment at which the child can be a companion to his father. This is an explanation, not a ruling.

Bunayy — the diminutive (taṣghīr) of the word ibn (son). And in Arabic the diminutive does not always announce smallness; most often it announces tenderness and love.

The word, then, is closer to "my dear son, my darling" than to "my little son".

And that the word is set here is worth noting — as my own reading: the content of the sentence is the harshest thing there is, while the address is in the gentlest form. This tension between what is said and the way of saying it is read off the word order.

And the child's answer is in the same mould: yā abati — "my dear father". Both sides address one another with the warmest form of address. This is a countable linguistic fact.

Arā — imperfect: "I see". And that the verb is imperfect is worth recording: not raʾaytu (I saw). In Arabic the imperfect can announce continuance or repetition.

In the classical commentaries it is said on this basis that the dream was seen more than once. The verse does not say this openly; the imperfect is open to such a reading but does not require it. I issue no ruling.

Al-manām — root ن-و-م: sleep. A noun of place / a maṣdar mīmī: the state of sleep, the place where one sleeps. The root was treated at al-Dhāriyāt 51/17 (mā yahjaʿūn) with a different word.

Adhbaḥuka — root ذ-ب-ح. The root was analysed at al-Baqara 2/67-71. The note there: the lexicographers record that the original picture of the root is "to split", and that slaughtering is the splitting of the throat.

And the verb is imperfect: "I am sacrificing you". The scene within the dream is recounted in the present.

And a note is required: the verse does not transmit an instruction in the imperative. It does not say "I have been commanded to sacrifice you"; it says "I see in my sleep that I am sacrificing you". The word "command" will occur in the child's answer: ifʿal mā tuʾmar.

This difference is read off the text and has been one of the grounds of the discussion of the status of a prophet's dream in the classical commentaries. I do not enter that discussion in this commentary; what I record is a datum of word order: the father transmits a dream, the son names it as a command.

And this is the place in the section that most needs to be dwelt on.

The father conveys the command and then asks for an opinion.

Fa'nẓur — "look". Mādhā tarā — "what do you see / what do you say".

And the two verbs are from the same root (ر-أ-ي) but in two different pieces of work:

The same verb, one in sleep and one awake. This is a linguistic fact that can be verified from the text.

A variant reading is transmitted: mādhā tarā (active: what do you see) and mādhā turā (passive: what is shown to you / what is seen). I give no reciter's name. On the second reading the question becomes gentler still: "what appears to you?"

And what must be recorded here is this, and it is read entirely off the text:

The father does two things, and between the two there is a conjunction (fāʾ):

1. He announces the command / the dream — innī arā fi'l-manāmi annī adhbaḥuk. 2. He asks for an opinion — fa'nẓur mādhā tarā.

And these two appear to conflict: if this is a command, what place has consultation? If he is consulting, is the command certain?

The explanations transmitted in the classical commentaries. I give them in a table:

All these explanations are transmitted in the classical sources. I do not impose a preference.

But one datum of word order is certain and must be recorded: the verb of the hundred and third verse is dual — fa-lammā aslamā ("when the two of them submitted"). The text, that is, attributes the submission not to one person but to both. This shows from within the text that the consultation was not idle.

And as my own reading I record this: the sentence fa'nẓur mādhā tarā adds a partner to the command. The command came to the father; but the person who is the subject of the command is also brought into the process. And this changes the moral weight of the scene: the child becomes not the object of the command but a party to it.

Yā abati — "my dear father". The final tāʾ is a transformation of the possessive yāʾ (my): yā abī → yā abati. In Arabic this is a form of address announcing tenderness and respect.

Ifʿal mā tuʾmar — "do what you are commanded".

And the point of word order is sharp: the child does not say ifʿal mā raʾayta ("do what you saw"); he says ifʿal mā tuʾmar ("do what you are commanded").

The father spoke of a dream, that is, and the child named it a command. This is a fact that can be verified from the text and was recorded above as well.

Tuʾmar — root أ-م-ر, passive: "you are commanded". The name of the one who commands is not said. The passive hides the agent, but it is plain.

I record this as my own reading: the child does not name himself at all in the sentence. He does not say "sacrifice me"; he says "do what you are commanded". He does not even name himself as the object of the command; he defines the matter as his father's obligation. And then he adds his own share.

Sa-tajidunī — "you will find me". The verb is wajada (to find) with the future particle sīn.

And a point of word order: the child does not say sa-aṣbiru ("I shall be patient"). He says "you will find me among the steadfast". He passes no judgement on himself, that is; he announces what his father will see.

I record this as my own reading: the sentence transfers the claim from the first person to the second. "I am patient" would have been a boast; "you will find me patient" is an undertaking, and its verification is left to the other party.

In shāʾa'llāh — "God willing". And the place of this qualification is worth noting: the child ties his word to a condition. He does not rest his own patience on his own strength.

The Qurʾān commands this qualification separately: wa lā taqūlanna li-shayʾin innī fāʿilun dhālika ghadā · illā an yashāʾa'llāh (al-Kahf 18/23-24).

Al-ṣābirīn — root ص-ب-ر. The root was treated at al-Qalam 68/48 and in Qāf. The note there: the concrete sense of the root is "to hold a thing in a place, to confine it" — patience is not passive endurance but an active holding back.

And the word order here too uses the mould of the group: mina'ṣ-ṣābirīn — "among the steadfast". This preference (placing the person in a group), seen in other parts of the sūra too, was recorded in the section on verses eighty and eighty-one.