al-Māʾida 5:22-24

Qālū yā Mūsā inna fīhā qawman jabbārīna wa innā lan nadkhulahā ḥattā yakhrujū minhā · Fa-in yakhrujū minhā fa-innā dākhilūn · Qāla rajulāni mina'lladhīna yakhāfūna anʿama'llāhu ʿalayhima'dkhulū ʿalayhimu'l-bāba fa-idhā dakhaltumūhu fa-innakum ghālibūn · Wa ʿala'llāhi fa-tawakkalū in kuntum muʾminīn · Qālū yā Mūsā innā lan nadkhulahā abadan mā dāmū fīhā fa'dhhab anta wa rabbuka fa-qātilā innā hāhunā qāʿidūn

"They said: O Moses! There is a tyrannical people in it; we will never enter it until they leave it; if they leave it, we shall enter. Two men from among those who feared, on whom God had bestowed favour, said: Go in upon them by the gate; once you have gone in you will prevail. And rely on God alone, if you are believers. They said: O Moses! We shall never enter it as long as they are in it. You and your Lord go and fight; we are sitting right here."

The sentences spoken in the three verses can be read as a single line:

And the difference between the first sentence and the last emerges only after the encouragement that comes between: at 22 it was "we shall enter on such and such a condition"; at 24 it is "we shall never enter". The encouragement did not soften the stance; it hardened it.

I record this as my own reading; its ground is the order of the three sentences. A hesitation, when a call is set against it, is more often than not fixed in place by being furnished with reasons.

The primary sense of the root: to bind up and set a break right, to mend. Jabīra — the splint set on a break; jabr — setting right, forcing into place. The word "algebra" in mathematics (al-jabr) is from the same root: the operation of bringing the two sides of a disordered equation level again.

The second sense arises from this: to make someone do a thing by force. Jabbār — a tyrant; one who forces people into line as one sets a break.

There is also a place where the word is used as a name of God (al-Ḥashr 59/23), and there the sense is positive: the one who mends what is broken, who sets it right. It was treated in al-Ḥashr. That the same word is negative when used of a human being and positive when used of God is the natural consequence of the root's two branches.

This construction deserves attention. The description used of the two men is not "those who were brave" but alladhīna yakhāfūna — "those who feared".

In the classical commentaries there are two readings of this phrase:

I do not impose a preference. But if the second reading is accepted, something worth recording emerges: those who spoke against were not fearless men but men who carried the same fear and said "go" even so. I add this as an observation, not as a ruling.

ٱدْخُلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْبَابَ — the advice given is concrete: a gate. And the preposition ʿalayhim conveys the upper hand: "in upon them".

This is one of the harshest sentences transmitted in the Qurʾān, and its word order should be recorded.

Both verbs are in the dual: fa-qātilā — "the two of you fight". The sentence takes the form not of a refusal but of a mockery: the other party gives up its own share entirely.

وَإِنَّا هَٰهُنَا قَٰعِدُونَ — and the verb they choose for themselves in return is to sit.

The root ق-ع-د: to sit; and to stay behind. Qāʿid — one sitting; quʿūd — sitting. The Qurʾān uses this root of those who do not go out on campaign as well (al-qāʿidūn, al-Nisāʾ 4/95).

A point of word order: the word hāhunā (right here) has been slipped in. A place is specified: against the place to be gone to is set the place of standing still. In the sentence a verb of motion (idhhab) stands face to face with a verb of remaining (qāʿidūn).