al-Ṣāffāt 37:11-12

Fa'staftihim a-hum ashaddu khalqan am man khalaqnā. Innā khalaqnāhum min ṭīnin lāzib · Bal ʿajibta wa yaskharūn

"Now ask them for their opinion: are they the stronger in creation, or those We have created? We created them from a sticky clay. · Rather, you have marvelled, while they mock."

Root ف-ت-ي. And the semantic field of the root is worth noting: fatā — a young man, a youth; fatwā — an opinion given on a question; iftāʾ — to give an opinion; istiftāʾ — to ask someone for his opinion.

The link the lexicographers make is this: a fatwā is the answer that renews, makes young again a question that has remained closed — the word, that is, that unties the knot and gives the matter fresh life. I transmit this link as the lexicographers record it.

The choice of the verb carries a point here. The verse does not say fa's-alhum ("ask them"); it says fa'staftihim — "ask them for their opinion".

The difference is this, and I record it as my own reading: suʾāl asks for information, istiftāʾ asks for a judgement. What is asked of the addressee, that is, is not that he state something he does not know, but that he reach a decision with what he does know. The question is not an examination; it is a demand for a comparison.

And the verb occurs twice in the sūra — both times opening a block:

Both are a "which of the two" question, and both catch the addressee by his own measure. This is a countable structural datum.

The proof is this: can the one who made the greater not make the lesser?

This proof was treated with the same structure at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/57 (la-khalqu's-samāwāti wa'l-arḍi akbaru min khalqi'n-nās), and it was tied there to al-Aḥqāf 46/33 as well. I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it.

The differences here must be recorded — and there are three:

The last row is the most important. In Ghāfir the ruling is given; here the ruling is not even asked for — an opinion is requested. The addressee will give his own answer.

Ashadd — root ش-د-د: to bind, to tighten, to make firm. The root was mentioned in the section on the seventh verse (in connection with the discussion of al-Jinn). The sense here is not "great" but "firm" — the comparison, that is, is built on structure, not on bulk.

Man khalaqnā — "the one whom We created". And note: not mā but man. In Arabic man is used of rational beings. This is a point the grammarians record, and it gives rise to this explanation: what is meant may be not only the heavens and the earth but all rational creatures, the angels included.

The disagreement in a table:

I do not impose a preference. The text does not specify, and all three readings accord with the context.

These two words are analysed here for the first time in this commentary; they were not treated in any other section.

طِين — root ط-ي-ن. The mixture of water and earth: clay. The Qurʾān recounts the creation of the human being with different words, and these form a series:

This is an enumerated list; the claim that there is an "order of stages" among the words is widespread in the classical commentaries, but the Qurʾān declares no such order. I issue no ruling.

لَّازِب — root ل-ز-ب. And the word occurs only here in the Qurʾān.

The sense the lexicographers give: sticking, clinging together, adhering to the hand. Lazaba — it stuck, it locked together. Lāzib is also used in the sense of "lasting, inseparable": ṣāra dhālika ḍarbatan lāzib — "this became an inseparable habit".

The lexicographers also draw attention to the closeness of the word in sound and sense to lāzim (necessary, inseparable); that the letters ب and م interchange in certain roots is a fact. I give this link as a transmission from the lexicographers; it is not a finding of my own.

And the work of the word is this — I record it as my own reading: the verse could have said "We created them from clay" and stopped. An attribute is added: sticky. Sticky clay stays on the hand, takes shape, but at the same time soils. The word carries at once both its capacity to be shaped and its capacity to cling. This accords with the context of the sentence: the side being compared is named not with the sky but with a substance that stays on the hand.

The eleventh verse is two sentences, with no conjunction between them:

1. A-hum ashaddu khalqan am man khalaqnā — a question. 2. Innā khalaqnāhum min ṭīnin lāzib — a statement.

The second sentence is not the answer to the question but its ground. That is: "Are they the firmer? — We created them from sticky clay." The answer is not stated; what is given is the knowledge that will supply the answer.

This is consistent with the verb istiftāʾ in the first sentence: an opinion is asked for, a ruling is not imposed. The verse leaves a gap that forces the addressee to think.

بَلْ — in Arabic the particle of retraction (iḍrāb): leaving the preceding statement and passing to something else. A similar use was treated in the section on Qāf (50/2 — bal ʿajibū).

عَجِبَ — root ع-ج-ب: to be astonished, to find strange. The root was analysed at Qāf 50/2 (bal ʿajibū an jāʾahum mundhirun minhum fa-qāla'l-kāfirūna hādhā shayʾun ʿajīb). I rely on that treatment.

And here there is one of the most discussed variant readings in the Qurʾān.

Both readings are transmitted in the sources on the variant readings. I give no reciter's name.

A long discussion has been held over the second reading, because "to marvel" seems a state requiring ignorance. The answers given in the classical period fall under two headings, and I give them in a table:

No preference is imposed in this commentary, and the theological dispute is not entered into. What is recorded is this: both readings are transmitted, and both set up the same contrast — on one side taking seriously, on the other mockery.

Root س-خ-ر. It has two branches of sense, and both are used in the Qurʾān:

• To make submit / to press into service: sakhkhara lakumu'sh-shamsa wa'l-qamar — "He made the sun and the moon subservient to you". This branch was treated in al-Zukhruf.
• To mock: to make someone an object of amusement.

The link the lexicographers make: one who mocks presses the other into the service of his own amusement. The two branches, that is, meet in the common denominator "to make another subject to one's own purpose". I give this link as a transmission from the lexicographers.

And the mood of the verbs is worth noting: ʿajibta is perfect (past), yaskharūn imperfect (continuous). On one side a state that has come about, on the other a behaviour that goes on. The contrast is set up by tense as well.

The difference of mood will continue in the next verse: wa idhā dhukkirū lā yadhkurūn — imperfect throughout.