al-Zumar 39:24-28

"One who tries to shield himself with his face against the worst of the punishment on the Day of Resurrection… This is an Arabic Qurʾān, with no crookedness in it."

The scene is bodily and worth recording: the person tries to shield himself with his face.

The root و-ق-ي — the same root as taqwā: to guard oneself, to take cover. And one whose hands are bound can turn nothing but his face against what comes at him.

I record this as my own reading: by joining the act of shielding to the least protected organ of what is to be shielded, the verse describes helplessness. And that the root is the same as taqwā carries the sentence onto a second level: the one who did not guard himself with taqwā in this world tries to guard himself with his face there.

The root ع-و-ج: crookedness, warping. ʿIwaj is used for crookedness the eye does not see; ʿawaj for crookedness that is seen — the lexicographers record this distinction.

And in the verse ʿiwaj is used: that is, it is the unseen crookedness that is negated.

I transmit this as the lexicographers record it, and I add the following as my own reading: while "not crooked" would have been enough to say of a text, the choice of the word that negates unseen crookedness carries the claim one step further.

وَلَقَدْ ضَرَبْنَا لِلنَّاسِ فِى هَٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانِ مِن كُلِّ مَثَلٍ — "We have set forth for people in this Qurʾān every kind of example."

And in the next verse (29) one of those examples will come: the parable of the two slaves. That is, the sentence announces what comes after it.