al-Zukhruf 43:63-65

Wa lammā jāʾa ʿĪsā bi'l-bayyināti qāla qad jiʾtukum bi'l-ḥikmati wa li-ubayyina lakum baʿḍa'lladhī takhtalifūna fīh · Fa'ttaqu'llāha wa aṭīʿūn · Inna'llāha huwa rabbī wa rabbukum fa'ʿbudūh · Hādhā ṣirāṭun mustaqīm · Fa'khtalafa'l-aḥzābu min baynihim · Fa-waylun li'lladhīna ẓalamū min ʿadhābi yawmin alīm

"And when Jesus came with the clear proofs he said: 'I have come to you with wisdom, and to make clear to you some of what you differ about. So be mindful of God and obey me. God is my Lord and your Lord; serve Him. This is a straight path.' Then the parties among them fell into disagreement. Woe to those who did wrong, from the punishment of a painful day!"

What the verse does must be recorded: the words of the person who was made the subject of the argument are reported.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the order of the block: in verses fifty-seven and fifty-eight an argument was recounted; in the fifty-ninth the text delivered a verdict (in huwa illā ʿabd); in the sixty-third the person himself speaks.

And what he says stands in the same place as the verdict of the fifty-ninth verse: inna'llāha huwa rabbī wa rabbukum.

The arrangement is worth recording: rabbī first, rabbukum after. The sentence, that is, states his own position first.

Jesus's words describe a task under two heads:

The root ح-ك-م occurred in the fourth verse (ḥakīm) and has been treated in the corpus: to restrain and hold in place; the bridle.

The root ب-ي-ن — the densest root in the sūra — comes here as a verb: li-ubayyina (that I may make clear). And this is the same root as al-kitābi'l-mubīn in the second verse.

I record this as a datum of the text: the sūra uses the root ب-ي-ن of the Book (2), of the messenger (29), and here of a prophet's task (63). And the other side used the same root twice to make a human being small (18, 52).

And there is a word here that must be dwelt on: baʿḍa — "some of".

The sentence does not say "that I may make clear the things you differ about". It says "some of".

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the word itself: the prophet's task is not described as resolving all disagreements. A limited task is described.

And it stands on the same line as the finding recorded in al-Aḥqāf at 46/35: there the sūra limited its own task to balāgh (conveying). Here too there is a limit, and the one who sets the limit is the one doing the work.

And the verse states the outcome: disagreement.

The root خ-ل-ف occurred in the sixtieth verse as yakhlufūn. In Form VIII (ikhtilāf) the sense changes: to fall behind one another — that is, not to walk on the same road.

The lexicographers explain the word ikhtilāf thus: two people, one going in one direction, the other in another. Its link with the root's core of "coming behind" lies here: not following in one another's tracks.

And this speaks quietly with the twenty-second verse of the sūra: there the other side said ʿalā āthārihim muhtadūn — "in their tracks". What is recounted here is the tracks not being followed.

I record this as an observation and do not present it as a link the text makes.

The root ح-ز-ب: a group, a company; and ḥizb — a party, a faction. The lexicographers also record the root's sense of "the hardship or weight of an affair" (ḥazabahu'l-amr).

Al-aḥzāb occurs elsewhere in the Qurʾān as well (Hūd 11/17, Maryam 19/37, al-Muʾmin 40/5, 40/30) and is mostly used of groups that have fallen into disagreement and split into parties.

Per the method (Method) I enter a note here: the verse issues no ruling about a religious tradition as a whole. What is recounted is a fact: the parting of parties after a prophet's words. And the verdict is attached not to a group but to an act: li'lladhīna ẓalamū — to those who did wrong.

This is the line kept throughout the sūra, and it was recorded in al-Aḥqāf at 46/35 as well: the verdict is attached not to a name but to an attribute.

The root ظ-ل-م: the core the lexicographers give is darkness; and putting a thing somewhere other than its place. The root has been treated in the corpus.

And the word's occurrences in the sūra are worth recording:

Three occurrences, and the last (76) will settle the verdict.