فَٱرْتَقِبْ إِنَّهُم مُّرْتَقِبُونَ
| Verse | Expression | Object |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | fa'rtaqib yawma taʾti's-samāʾu bi-dukhānin mubīn | That day — there is an object |
| 59 | fa'rtaqib | No object |
Both commands are in the same pattern: fāʾ + a Form VIII imperative. And both open a division of the sūra: the one the section of events (10-57), the other the closing.
And the difference is worth recording — I give it as my own reading: in the tenth verse what was to be watched for was stated; in the fifty-ninth it is not. Because the forty-nine verses between have already stated it.
The command is the same, then, but the material accumulated behind it has changed. The first time a day was pointed to; the second time we return to it with the content of that day already told.
A similar observation was recorded in al-Qamar for the refrains ("the reading that the material accumulated behind the refrain increases"); in al-Dukhān the repetition is twofold and stands at the two ends of the sūra.
A plural active participle, from the same form. The verb commanded to the addressee, that is, is reported as a verb the other party performs too.
| Reading | What it says |
|---|---|
| They too are waiting | The other party is waiting for an outcome as well — they hope for something in their own favour |
| They too are being watched / their end is being watched for | The waiting continues on both sides; but the outcome will fall out in favour of one |
And I record an observation about word order: the sentence does not say "you wait, they will be destroyed". It joins both parties in the same verb. The difference will emerge not in the verb but at the end of the verb.
The Qurʾān builds a similar close with another root as well: "So turn away from them and wait; they too are waiting" (al-Sajda 32/30 — fa-aʿriḍ ʿanhum wa'ntaẓir innahum muntaẓirūn). There the root is ن-ظ-ر, here ر-ق-ب.
The difference between the two roots is worth recording and was partly recorded at the twenty-ninth verse:
| Root | Core | What it conveys |
|---|---|---|
| ن-ظ-ر | To look | A gaze; and in Form IV, to grant a respite |
| ر-ق-ب | To watch | To follow a thing so as not to miss it; raqaba — the neck |
As recorded in Qāf, the picture in the root ر-ق-ب is of a man stretching out his neck to look. Irtiqāb, that is, is not a passive waiting.
I present this as my own reading: the sūra commands its addressee not to sit and wait but not to take his eyes off. And the finding recorded in al-Qamar for al-Qamar 54/27 works here too: "The man does not withdraw, he goes on looking."
The sūra does not end with a threat. In the last sentence the other party is named, but no punishment is announced for them. What is announced is that they too are waiting.
I record this as my own reading: the last word of the sūra is not a verdict but a statement of a situation. And the statement puts both parties in the same position: both are waiting.
The closing observation recorded in Qāf works here too: "the sūra tells its addressee what he will not do before it tells him what he will do." In al-Dukhān this is plainer still: what he will do is a single word, and that word had already been said in the middle of the sūra.