وَقَيَّضْنَا لَهُمْ قُرَنَآءَ فَزَيَّنُوا۟ لَهُم مَّا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ · وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لَا تَسْمَعُوا۟ لِهَٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانِ وَٱلْغَوْا۟ فِيهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَغْلِبُونَ
"We set upon them certain companions, and they made what was before them and what was behind them seem fair… Those who disbelieved said: 'Do not listen to this Qurʾān; make noise while it is being recited — perhaps you will drown it out.'"
This verse is the most concrete scene in the sūra, and it must be read together with the fifth verse.
| Verse | Who says it | What |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | The other side | "Our hearts are covered, there is a heaviness in our ears" — a declaration of closedness |
| 26 | The other side | "Do not listen, make noise" — the act of closing |
What is described in the fifth verse as a condition turns, in the twenty-sixth verse, into something done. This is a development that can be verified within the sūra.
وَٱلْغَوْا۟ فِيهِ — the verb is from the root ل-غ-و: laghw — speech that is not counted, that goes to waste. The root was analysed in detail at al-Wāqiʿa 56/25 (including the use recorded by the lexicographers for the chirping of a bird, and its relation to lugha). I do not repeat it here.
The use here is worth recording: in al-Wāqiʿa laghw was the thing not found in the Garden. Here it is used as an instrument: making meaningless noise in order to drown out meaningful speech.
I record this as my own reading: the tactic is not to object — it is to prevent the thing being heard. That is, the argument is not entered into; the argument is not allowed to be set up. Laʿallakum taghlibūn — "perhaps you will drown it out": the word itself describes victory as superiority in sound.
قُرَنَآء — root ق-ر-ن: to bind two things side by side. Qarīn — the one who is continually beside another, the one who keeps company.