أَنْ أَدُّوٓا۟ إِلَىَّ عِبَادَ ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنِّى لَكُمْ رَسُولٌ أَمِينٌ
The an at the head is the explicative an: it opens out the content of a verb of speaking that precedes it. Here there is no explicit verb of speaking before it; the sense of speaking is implicit in the expression jāʾahum rasūl, and an brings it out.
- أَدَّى — he paid, he handed over, he discharged.
- أَدَاء — adāʾ: the paying of a debt, the full performance of a task.
- تَأْدِيَة — a conveying.
At the centre of the root stands the idea of a trust, and the Qurʾān establishes this openly: "God commands you to hand over trusts to those they belong to (an tuʾaddu'l-amānāti ilā ahlihā)" (al-Nisāʾ 4/58). The same verb, the same pattern.
The Qurʾān tells the same demand elsewhere with another verb: "Send the Children of Israel with us" — fa-arsil maʿanā banī isrāʾīl (Ṭāhā 20/47; al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/17). There the verb is the root ر-س-ل: to send, to let go.
| Verb | Root | What it implies |
|---|---|---|
| Arsil | ر-س-ل | Let go — release what is in your hand |
| Addū | أ-د-ي | Hand over — give the trust you hold to its owner |
The difference is not small. Arsil counts Pharaoh an owner and asks him to let go. Addū counts him one who holds and asks for restitution.
And what strengthens this is the object: ʿibāda'llāh — "the servants of God". The owner of what is to be handed over, that is, is the one named within the sentence.
I record this as my own reading: the sentence builds a demand for freedom as a correction of ownership. Not "set them free"; but "they are not yours; give them to their owner."
The exegetes differ over the place of this phrase in the sentence, and the disagreement changes the meaning:
| Reading | What the sentence becomes | Ground |
|---|---|---|
| Object | "Hand over to me the servants of God" — that is, the Children of Israel | The verb (addū) requires an object; and this is the subject of the story |
| Vocative | "O servants of God! Give me [my due / a hearing]" — that is, an address to the house of Pharaoh | The dropping of yā is ordinary in Arabic; and the object of addū would then be elided |
The first reading is the more widespread and agrees better with the context (in the next verse lā taʿlū ʿala'llāh, then at 23 fa-asri bi-ʿibādī). But I do not impose a preference; the second reading too is transmitted and is linguistically possible.
I record one datum, and it is not a preference: in the twenty-third verse God will name the same community ʿibādī ("My servants"). The name the messenger uses and the name God uses are the same.
| Verse | Who speaks | Expression |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | Moses | ʿibāda'llāh — "the servants of God" |
| 23 | God | bi-ʿibādī — "with My servants" |
This is a verifiable repetition within the sūra and may be counted a datum supporting the first reading.
There are three elements and their order is meaningful: innī (emphasis) + lakum (fronted) + rasūlun amīn (the predicate).
I record this as an observation about word order: before introducing the messengership, the sentence introduces its addressee. The house of Pharaoh, that is, is here not the party excluded but the party addressed.
And the work of the word amīn here must be recorded: the faʿīl pattern carries both directions of the root — both trusted (one with whom a trust may be left) and secure. The context is the first.
And it has a link with the preceding sentence — my own reading: the messenger asked for a trust to be restored (addū); immediately after, he introduced himself as trustworthy. Two ends of the same field of meaning: the man who asks for a trust says first that he himself is fit for a trust.