al-Ṣāffāt 37:50-57

Fa-aqbala baʿḍuhum ʿalā baʿḍin yatasāʾalūn · Qāla qāʾilun minhum innī kāna lī qarīn · Yaqūlu a-innaka la-mina'l-muṣaddiqīn · A-idhā mitnā wa kunnā turāban wa ʿiẓāman a-innā la-madīnūn · Qāla hal antum muṭṭaliʿūn · Fa'ṭṭalaʿa fa-raʾāhu fī sawāʾi'l-jaḥīm · Qāla ta'llāhi in kidta la-turdīn · Wa lawlā niʿmatu rabbī la-kuntu mina'l-muḥḍarīn

"They turn to one another, questioning. One of them says: 'I had a companion who used to say to me: Are you really one of those who hold it true? When we are dead and have become dust and bones, are we really to be called to account?' — He says: 'Will you look?' He looks and sees him in the very middle of the blaze. He says: 'By God, you almost ruined me. Had it not been for my Lord's favour, I too would have been among those brought.'"

The fiftieth verse is an exact repetition of the twenty-seventh — only the conjunction has changed. It was given above in a table. And the content of the two scenes is exactly opposite:

I record this as my own reading: the speech in the fire is turned to the second person (innakum, kuntum) — that is, accusation. The speech in the garden is built in the first person (innī, lī, la-kuntu) — that is, narration. The same sentence opens onto two different modes of speech.

A point of word order: qāla qāʾilun — the verb and its subject are from the same root (not م-ف-ع-و-ل but the same root: ق-و-ل). In Arabic this is called reinforcement by derivation (ishtiqāq).

And the subject is indefinite: qāʾilun minhum — "a speaker from among them". No name, and one in number. The scene, that is, descends from a crowd to a single person.

As my own reading: verses forty to forty-nine were a picture of a group (they, around them, with them). From the fiftieth verse it passes to a single voice. The picture turns into a narrative.

Root ق-ر-ن: to bind two things together, to pair. Qarn — a horn (what is joined to the head); qirān — a joining; qarīn — one who is constantly together with another, a close companion.

The word was treated in Qāf (50/23, 27 — wa qāla qarīnuhu), and the use of this word in the scene of the fire was analysed there. I rely on that treatment.

The difference here must be recorded:

Whether the qarīn here is a human being or another kind of being has been disputed in the classical commentaries. The text does not specify and I issue no ruling. The content of the speech (denial of resurrection, mockery) accords with both possibilities.

Muṣaddiq — root ص-د-ق, the active participle of Form II: one who holds true, who confirms.

And the same root had occurred in the thirty-seventh verse: wa ṣaddaqa'l-mursalīn — "he confirmed the messengers". The same verb, two different sides: one who confirms the messengers, and one who mocks those who confirm. This is a textual datum.

A point of word order: the question opens with a-innaka — that is, a reinforced question. In Arabic this is not a real question for information but announces incredulity and mockery. In English: "Come now, do you really believe?"

And la-mina'l-muṣaddiqīn — "one of those who hold it true". The person, that is, is placed in a group. The mockery is not individual but directed at a category.

This sentence is a repetition of the sixteenth verse, with one word of difference. It was given above in a table (in the section on 13-17) and I do not repeat it.

What is to be added here is this: in the sixteenth verse this speech was said by a crowd; in the fifty-third by a single person. And in the fifty-fifth verse that person is shown.

I record this as my own reading: the sūra gives a sentence twice, and at the second giving adds a face to it. The objection in the sixteenth verse belonged to an abstract crowd; the objection in the fifty-third belongs to a particular person standing in the middle of the blaze.

Root ط-ل-ع: a thing's coming out, rising and becoming visible. Ṭulūʿ — rising; maṭlaʿ — the place of rising; ṭalīʿa — a vanguard. The root was treated at Qāf 50/10 (wa'n-nakhla bāsiqātin lahā ṭalʿun naḍīd) and in al-Humaza (taṭṭaliʿu ʿala'l-afʾida).

Muṭṭaliʿ — the active participle of Form VIII: one who looks from above, who glances into a place. The pattern announces looking from a height downward.

And at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/36-37 the same root occurred in Pharaoh's mouth: fa-aṭṭaliʿa ilā ilāhi Mūsā — "that I may look upon the god of Moses". The same verb, two directions: one wants to climb up and look, the other looks down from above. This is a textual observation.

A point of word order: the question is hal antum muṭṭaliʿūn — "are you people who look?" It is asked with a nominal sentence. Not "will you look?", then, but "are you in a state to look?"

And note: the question is put to those beside him, but in the next verse the one who looks is a single person: fa'ṭṭalaʿa (singular). The offer is in the plural, the act in the singular. This is an observation about the structure.

Sawāʾ — root س-و-ي: equality, equivalence. Sawāʾu'sh-shayʾ — the very middle of a thing; because the middle point is equidistant from the edges. The word's sense of "middle" arises from this equality.

The same construction occurs in the Qurʾān at al-Dukhān 44/47: fa'tilūhu ilā sawāʾi'l-jaḥīm. Treated in al-Dukhān.

As my own reading: it is not said "in the blaze" but "in the very middle of the blaze". Not the edge but the centre. And what was offered in the fifty-fourth verse was looking — the speaker, that is, sees his companion's place with his own eye.

Ta'llāhi — an oath with the letter tāʾ. In Arabic wāw, bāʾ and tāʾ are particles of oath; and tāʾ is used only with the word "God". The lexicographers record that the tāʾ oath also carries the sense of astonishment and of an unlooked-for state.

In kidta — here in is not the negative but the mukhaffafa mina'th-thaqīla (the lightened form of the heavy inna). The grammarians know it by the presence of the lām: la-turdīn. The sense: "you really did almost…"

Kāda — the verb in Arabic announcing "to be near": to be on the point of.

Turdīn — root ر-د-ي: to fall from a height, to perish. Taraddā — he fell, he perished. In the Qurʾān: wa mā yughnī ʿanhu māluhu idhā taraddā (al-Layl 92/11) — treated in al-Layl.

And the picture of the word is worth noting: ruin is described as falling — that is, from a height downward. And the speaker is at that very moment looking down from above (muṭṭaliʿ). The scene and the word overlap. I record this as an observation.

And the block closes with an admission: "Had it not been for my Lord's favour…"

Lawlā — in Arabic the conditional particle announcing "had it not been for"; it announces a possibility that was not realised.

Muḥḍarīn — root ح-ض-ر, the passive participle of Form IV: those brought, those made to be present. And this word occurs three times in the sūra:

All three occurrences are in the same mould. Only the first carries a difference: there the verb stands inside an unrealised condition. This is a fact that can be verified from the text.

The choice of the word is worth noting: iḥḍār is to bring someone into the presence of an authority. The word announces, that is, not the punishment but the summons. In all three places the sūra names not the penalty itself but the procedure that leads to it.