ألم تر إلى الذين أوتوا نصيبا من الكتاب يؤمنون بالجبت والطاغوت … أم يحسدون الناس على ما آتاهم الله من فضله · إن الذين كفروا بآياتنا سوف نصليهم نارا · والذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات سندخلهم جنات تجري من تحتها الأنهار
A-lam tara ila'lladhīna ūtū naṣīban mina'l-kitābi yuʾminūna bi'l-jibti wa'l-ṭāghūt … Am yaḥsudūna'l-nāsa ʿalā mā ātāhumu'llāhu min faḍlih …
"Have you not seen those who were given a share of the Book? They believe in jibt and in ṭāghūt… Or do they envy people for what God has given them of His bounty?"
The word jibt occurs only here in the Qurʾān. The lexicographers do not agree on whether the word is of Arabic origin; for its sense such renderings as "a thing with no good in it", "an idol", "soothsaying" are transmitted. Nothing definite is said in this commentary about the origin of the word.
Ṭāghūt — root ط-غ-ي: to exceed the bound, to overflow. The root was treated at al-Naḥl 16/36 (ani'ʿbudu'llāha wa'jtanibu'l-ṭāghūt), and it was recorded there that in respect of its pattern the word states intensification and is used for both singular and plural. I rely on that treatment.
The word occurs twice in this sūra: at the fifty-first verse and at the sixtieth. In the second it will be named as the authority resorted to for judgement.
And the word order of the verse must be recorded: the sentence says mā ātāhumu'llāhu min faḍlih — "what God has given them of His bounty". The same expression occurred at the thirty-second verse (mā faḍḍala'llāhu bihī baʿḍakum ʿalā baʿḍ), and there coveting was forbidden.
| Verse | Verb | Those addressed |
|---|---|---|
| 32 | Lā tatamannaw — do not covet | Those who believe |
| 54 | Am yaḥsudūn — do they envy | The group described |
The same field, in two separate places: one a command, the other a diagnosis. I record this as an observation about word order.
Naḍija — root ن-ض-ج: to be cooked, to ripen. The use of the word in this context is striking: the root is used for the ripening of fruit as well.
The qualification entered in this commentary about descriptions of the hereafter holds here too: nothing definite is said about the nature and manner of the description.
وَنُدْخِلُهُمْ ظِلًّا ظَلِيلًا (57) — ẓillan ẓalīlā: a shade and the attribute of shade, from the same root. This is one of the patterns of emphasis in Arabic. And the block closes with a shade.