al-Dhāriyāt 51:54-55

Fa-tawalla ʿanhum fa-mā anta bi-malūm · Wa dhakkir fa-inna'l-dhikrā tanfaʿu'l-muʾminīn "So turn away from them; you are not to be blamed. And remind; for the reminder profits the believers."

And at first sight there is a contradiction: turn away, but remind.

In the classical sources this is resolved in several ways:

The third explanation is the most consistent and agrees with the text, because since the forty-ninth verse the commands have in any case been given to those addressed (fa-firrū, lā tajʿalū) — the delivering of the message, that is, continues.

And the finding recorded in the section on al-Maʿārij looks exactly at this: there the sūra's two commands (fa'ṣbir and fa-dharhum) were set side by side and this was recorded: "both come out of the same acceptance — the outcome is not in your hand."

The same acceptance is at work here. To turn away is not a giving up; it is to let go of responsibility for the outcome. The next sentence says so openly: fa-mā anta bi-malūm.

I built this link above in the discussion of 51/40; I do not repeat it. In summary: in the fortieth verse Pharaoh was named mulīm (one who brings blame upon himself); here the Prophet is not malūm (blamed).

What is to be added here is the sentence's emphasis.

Mā anta bi-malūm — and at the head of the predicate stands بِ. In Arabic this bāʾ coming at the head of the predicate in a negative sentence is redundant: it does not change the sense, it strengthens it.

This very structure was treated in the discussion of al-Qalam 68/2: mā anta bi-niʿmati rabbika bi-majnūn — there too the negation was strengthened with the same bāʾ, and the point of word order was recorded.

And it is instructive to set the two verses side by side:

al-Qalam lifts an accusation coming from outside. al-Dhāriyāt lifts a burden that might come from within.

A man may hold himself responsible when he has delivered his word and nobody has listened. The verse closes this off: your task was to deliver it.

I record this as my own reading.

And this sentence was treated in the section on al-Aʿlā. There, in discussing the conditional qualification of al-Aʿlā 87/9 (fa-dhakkir in nafaʿati'l-dhikrā), this verse was cited as a counter-indication, and this was recorded: "the same root, the same frame, without a condition."

I do not repeat it. What is to be added here is the difference between the two verses.

In al-Aʿlā there is a condition, in al-Dhāriyāt a ground. And al-Dhāriyāt sets a limit: the profit of the reminder is for the believers.

And this limit, joined with the preceding verse, completes the picture:

54: Turn away — you are not responsible. 55: Remind — for the reminder profits the believers.

The reminding is not abandoned, that is; but the expectation of it is adjusted. The reminder is not expected to produce a result in everyone.

And this ties to the sūra's twentieth verse: there too the signs were qualified as li'l-mūqinīn (for those who have come to certainty). The sūra, that is, says the same thing twice: a proof and a reminder both require a receiver.

I record this as a link within the sūra.

ٱلذِّكْرَىٰ — root ذ-ك-ر, and its pattern is striking: the fiʿlā measure conveys in Arabic the intensive and complete form of the verbal noun. Dhikrā, that is, is not an ordinary reminder; it is the reminding itself.