al-Raḥmān 55:35 commentary

55/35

يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِّن نَّارٍ وَنُحَاسٌ فَلَا تَنتَصِرَانِ

Yursalu ʿalaykumā shuwāẓun min nārin wa nuḥāsun fa-lā tantaṣirān

"There will be sent against you a flame of fire and nuḥās; and you will not be able to defend yourselves."

يُرْسَلُ — passive

The verb is passive: it is sent, and who sends it is not stated. This choice was treated in detail in the section on al-Mursalāt, and the measure recorded there holds here as well: the scene is built without an agent; what happens is looked at, not who does it.

شُوَاظ — shuwāẓ

The sense given by the lexicographers: pure, smokeless flame. The bare, burning part of fire.

A difference of recitation is recorded in the vowelling of the word (shuwāẓ / shiwāẓ). It does not change the meaning. I do not name an imam.

نُحَاس — nuḥās

The meaning of this word is disputed, and there are two views:

View	Sense	Its ground
Copper	Molten copper	The word's settled sense in Arabic; nuḥās is copper today as well
Smoke	Smoke, set over against the smokeless flame	A second usage recorded by the lexicographers; if shuwāẓ is smokeless flame, nuḥās becomes its complement

The second view has an advantage in point of word order, and it should be recorded: since shuwāẓ is described as "smokeless flame", the arrival of "smoke" immediately beside it forms a pair. And the sūra is built on pairs from beginning to end.

The advantage of the first view is that it is the settled sense of the word.

I do not impose a preference. Both have been defended in the classical sources.

فَلَا تَنتَصِرَانِ — you will not be able to defend yourselves

Root: ن-ص-ر. To help. ٱنْتِصَار (Form VIII) — to help oneself, to defend oneself, to take one's own revenge.

Form VIII functions here as reflexive: the help does not come from outside; what is at issue is a person's helping himself.

And the verb is dual again: تَنتَصِرَانِ. The sound of the sūra continues.

A nicety in the word order: the verse does not say "you will not be helped". It says "you will not be able to defend yourselves". What is recounted, that is, is not the cutting off of help from outside but the exhaustion of a person's own resource.

And this is the continuation of the challenge two verses earlier: there it was said you will not pass, here it is said you will not defend yourselves. The two sentences say the same thing: nothing is left on the side of ability.