Ṣād 38:67-70

Qul huwa nabaʾun ʿaẓīm · Antum ʿanhu muʿriḍūn · Mā kāna liya min ʿilmin bi'l-malaʾi'l-aʿlā idh yakhtaṣimūn · In yūḥā ilayya illā annamā ana nadhīrun mubīn

"Say: it is a mighty report. You are turning away from it. I had no knowledge of the assembly on high when they were disputing. It is revealed to me only that I am a clear warner."

It was tabulated above in the section on structure, and I recall it here because it is a datum that can be verified: from the first verse to the sixty-sixth every verse ends in a long ā + a single consonant. In the sixty-seventh the sound changes: ʿaẓīm. And it never comes back.

The sūra's break of sound, that is, is exactly at this verse.

This construct was treated in detail in al-Nabaʾ and Ṣād 38/67 was explicitly discussed there. I rely on that.

What was recorded in the discussion of al-Nabaʾ was this:

"Ṣād 38/67-68: 'Say: it is a mighty report; you are turning away from it.' The same construct is used there of the Qurʾān… But that the construct in Ṣād 38/67 is word for word the same is a datum worth recording and must not be passed over. Set the two verses side by side and what comes out is this: the Qurʾān can use the expression 'mighty report' both of itself and of the resurrection itself. This is no contradiction — because the core of the report the Qurʾān carries is the resurrection in any case."

And this was recorded separately at the close of the discussion of al-Nabaʾ.

What is to be added here is its referent within Ṣād. To whom does the pronoun huwa (it) refer?

I do not impose a preference. But an indication within the sūra can be recorded: in the eighty-seventh verse the same pronoun is used, and there its referent is plain: in huwa illā dhikrun li'l-ʿālamīn — the Book. This is a datum supporting the first view; it is not binding.

It is the shortest verse in the sūra: three words.

أَعْرَضَ — root ع-ر-ض. Its concrete sense: the breadth of a thing, its side. ʿArḍ — width. Form IV (iʿrāḍ): to turn one's face away, to turn one's side — that is, to show the one addressed not one's face but one's side.

This root was treated in Fuṣṣilat at 41/4 (fa-aʿraḍa aktharuhum fa-hum lā yasmaʿūn), and what was recorded there was this: not hearing is set down as the consequence of turning away — not as its cause. I rely on that.

And the construction of the sentence must be recorded: antum (you) has been brought forward.

In Arabic, fronting the subject in a nominal sentence conveys takhṣīṣ (specification). That is, not "you are turning away" but "it is you who turn away".

I record this as my own reading: the report is mighty (67), and the response given to it is named in a single word (68). There is no conjunction at all between the two verses — two sentences set side by side. The comparison is made by the reader.

And now the sūra makes its passage to the next section.

ٱلْمَلَإِ ٱلْأَعْلَىٰ — "the assembly on high". The word malaʾ had occurred in the sixth verse: the leading men of Mecca.

And now the same word comes with an epithet: al-aʿlā — high, the one above.

This is a shared wording that can be verified, and I record it as my own reading: the sūra uses the same word on two levels. The malaʾ below leaves a gathering and decides; the malaʾ above is inside a dispute.

And the views as to who is meant:

None of the three excludes the others; I do not impose a preference.

إِذْ يَخْتَصِمُونَ — and the root خ-ص-م comes for the fourth and last time. It was tabulated above.

The sentence says two things, and both must be recorded:

One: the knowledge is not from himself. Mā kāna liya min ʿilm — "I had no knowledge." That is, what is to be recounted is not the product of a personal access.

Two: the ground of the revelation is announced. In yūḥā ilayya illā annamā ana nadhīrun mubīn.

And the construction of the sentence has been disputed among the grammarians:

Both explanations are transmitted. The second reduces the content of the revelation to an announcement of office; the first states the reason for the revelation. I do not impose a preference.

نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ — and the third occurrence of the word mundhir. It was tabulated above (4, 65, 70).

مُبِين — root ب-ي-ن: to be separate, to be clear. The active participle of Form IV: mubīn — both "that which is clear" and "that which makes clear". The word works in both directions in Arabic (intransitive and transitive).

I record this as my own reading: the epithet announces that the warning is not hidden knowledge. And this joins with the sentence "I had no knowledge" in the sixty-ninth verse: what is to be recounted is neither the envoy's own discovery nor a concealed secret.

Now the sūra will recount what happened in that "assembly on high".