al-Qamar 54:55

Fī maqʿadi ṣidqin ʿinda malīkin muqtadir "In a seat of truth, in the presence of a Sovereign, All-Powerful."

The sūra's last verse, and every word in it carries something.

Root: ق-ع-د. Qaʿada — he sat. مَقْعَد is a noun of place: a place where one sits, a station, a seat.

This root was treated in al-Burūj and al-Jinn, and this verse was cited in the section on al-Burūj.

And the word's other occurrences in the Qurʾān are worth recording:

In al-Jinn that verse was treated, and it was recorded there that the jinn were driven from "the places where they sat to listen".

I record this as my own reading: the same word names, in one place in the Qurʾān, a place one is driven from; in another, a battle position; in another, the sitting of those left behind. In al-Qamar's last verse it names an abiding seat. The word is the same; the duration differs. All the others are temporary: a position is abandoned, one is driven from a listening post, and the one who sits behind finally gets up.

Root: ص-د-ق. This root was treated in al-Dhāriyāt, al-Ḥadīd, al-Ḥashr, al-Ṣaff, al-Jumuʿa, al-Maʿārij, al-Qiyāma, al-Layl and al-Munāfiqūn. Its concrete sense: soundness, reality, a word's matching what is real. Ṣidq — truthfulness. Ṣadaqa — alms (what shows the truth of faith). Ṣadāq — the marriage gift. Ṣādiq, ṣiddīq.

And here the word is the second term of an annexation: maqʿadi ṣidqin.

This is a settled pattern in the Qurʾān and is repeated in several places:

The function of the pattern is this: when the word ṣidq is annexed to a noun, it makes that noun "real, genuine, not to be taken back." Qadama ṣidqin — a firm footing; lisāna ṣidqin — a genuinely good name; maqʿada ṣidqin — really a seat.

I record this as my own reading: the pattern does not qualify what is promised in return; it qualifies the reality of the promise. It says not "a good place" but "really a place".

And a contrast within the sūra is worth recording. The sūra is the sūra of the root ك-ذ-ب. Its occurrences:

And in the sūra's last verse the root ص-د-ق occurs once.

The sūra fills with nine denials and closes with a single truth.

I record this as my own reading. The count can be verified; the reading I draw from it is mine.

عِنْد is an adverb of place in Arabic, but it conveys not only physical nearness; it conveys belonging, ownership and presence. ʿIndī — in my view, according to me. Min ʿindillāh — from God.

The Qurʾān uses the same word of the martyrs: "They are alive with their Lord (ʿinda Rabbihim), provided for" (Āl ʿImrān 3/169).

And the word order of the verse is worth recording: first the place is stated (fī maqʿadi ṣidqin), then in whose presence it is (ʿinda malīkin muqtadir). The description is thus in two layers: a place, and a presence.

I record this as my own reading: in verse fifty-four the sūra gave a scene (jannātin wa nahar); in verse fifty-five it leaves the scene and states the relation. And the sūra's last word is not the name of a place but an attribute.

Root: م-ل-ك. This root was treated throughout the whole of al-Mulk, and was also taken up in al-Nās, al-Infiṭār, al-Nabaʾ, al-Insān, al-Ḥashr and al-Jumuʿa.

The issue here is the pattern, and it requires attention.

The Qurʾān uses three separate forms from this root:

The فَعِيل pattern conveys in Arabic intensity and the quasi-participle: the quality being settled and concentrated in its bearer. ʿAlīm (knowing much), Qadīr, Samīʿ, Raḥīm.

Malīk, then, is weightier than malik: one whose dominion is settled and complete.

And in this pattern the word is commonly recorded as occurring only here in the Qurʾān. I record it in that form and make no absolute claim about the count.

The mālik/malik variant reading treated in the section on al-Fātiḥa does not attach here; it was treated there and I do not repeat it.

I record this as my own reading: the sūra's last verse names God with the attribute of sovereignty in its most concentrated pattern. And the sūra's addressee was a host that said in verse forty-four "we are a host that cannot be beaten" and was scattered in verse forty-five. The host was scattered; the dominion stands.

Root: ق-د-ر, the active participle of Form VIII. Treated under verse forty-two.

And now the sūra's tightest circle is completed.

Three verses, one root, three separate jobs:

The same word — مُقْتَدِر — occurs twice in the sūra: in verses forty-two and fifty-five.

And the position of the two occurrences is decisive:

• Verse 42: the last verse of the five-account list of destructions.
• Verse 55: the last verse of the sūra.

The same attribute, that is, seals two lists at once: the list of penalties and the sūra as a whole.

And verse forty-nine stands between them, with the root's third form: bi-qadar. The order, then, is:

1. Power closes the punishment (42). 2. Measure describes the creating (49). 3. Power closes the sūra (55).

The root occurs three times in the last third of the sūra, each time in a closing position.

I record this as my own reading. The wording of the three verses, the forms of the word and the verse numbers are verifiable data of the text; the reading of the circle is mine.

And one further detail: in verse forty-two muqtadir comes together with عَزِيز (ʿazīzin muqtadir); in verse fifty-five with مَلِيك (malīkin muqtadir). Two companions, in two different directions:

The same power shows two different faces through two different attributes. This too I record as my own reading.