al-Ḥadīd 57:21

Sābiqū ilā maghfiratin min rabbikum wa jannatin ʿarḍuhā ka-ʿarḍi's-samāʾi wa'l-arḍ, uʿiddat lilladhīna āmanū bi'llāhi wa rusulih; dhālika faḍlu'llāhi yuʾtīhi man yashāʾ; wa'llāhu dhu'l-faḍli'l-ʿaẓīm "Race towards forgiveness from your Lord and a garden whose breadth is like the breadth of the sky and the earth, prepared for those who believe in God and His messengers. That is God's bounty; He gives it to whom He wills. God is the possessor of great bounty."

Root: س-ب-ق: to get ahead in a race. It was fully analysed at al-Baqara 2/148: it is the word used of horse-racing; sābiq (the one in front) and musābaqa are from the same root.

And a table was set up there: at al-Takāthur 102/1 takāthur (prevailing by multitude) was blamed, at al-Muṭaffifīn 83/26 tanāfus and at al-Baqara 2/148 istibāq were commanded. The conclusion was recorded thus:

The Qurʾān does not forbid competing; it changes the subject of the competition. The desire in a human being to get ahead is treated not as a defect to be torn out but as an energy whose direction is to be set.

And it was noted that the difference lies in whether the subject is divisible: property and rank are limited, and one person's winning is another's losing; good is not limited.

I do not repeat it here. What must be recorded is the difference of pattern.

At al-Baqara 2/148 the verb is استبقوا (istabiqū) — the istifʿāl form. At al-Ḥadīd 57/21 the verb is سابقوا (sābiqū) — the mufāʿala form.

Both are from the same root but their patterns differ:

That the mufāʿala form should be used here is striking, because like tafāʿul it conveys reciprocity — and one verse earlier (57/20) tafākhur and takāthur were blamed; both are in a pattern of reciprocity.

That is, two verses apart, the sūra blames the same structure of reciprocity once and commands it once. The only thing that changes is the subject of the competition.

This is the plainest proof of the measure set up at al-Baqara 2/148, and the two verses standing side by side does not look like a coincidence.

عرض — root ع-ر-ض: breadth, width (the opposite of length). From the same root come ʿarīḍ (wide), iʿrāḍ (turning away — turning aside), ʿāriḍ (what comes from the side).

The choice of "breadth" as the measure has been dwelt upon. The explanation given in the classical commentaries is this: the breadth of a thing is less than its length; the length of something with such a breadth cannot be described. That is, the measure is given in order to show that it cannot be grasped.

This is a reasonable explanation. But a simpler reading is possible too: in Arabic ʿarḍ is also used generally in the sense of "breadth, extent", and what is meant here is not a precise geometrical measure but the greatness of the scope.

At Āl ʿImrān 3/133 the same expression comes slightly differently: "…a garden whose breadth is as the heavens and the earth." There "heavens" is plural, here singular. The difference does not change the meaning.

Root: ع-د-د: to count, to prepare. This root was treated in the section on al-Humaza — there one of the two readings of the verb ʿaddada was "to make preparation" (ʿudda).

That the verb should come in the perfect and in the passive is meaningful: the preparation is complete. The race is not for a prize that does not yet exist; it is for something already waiting.

The verse opens with a command to race and closes with a note about bounty. And that note is necessary.

For the language of racing easily becomes a language of deserving: the one who races wins, the winner deserves. The last sentence of the verse cuts this off: the prize is not the wage of the race; it is a bounty.

This is the same balance as in verse 10. There too a grading was made, and immediately afterwards the balance was established by saying "to all God has promised the best."

The sūra makes this movement twice: it sets down a distinction, then prevents the distinction from becoming absolute.

فضل — root ف-ض-ل: to increase, to be in excess, to be superior. Faḍl is the surplus added on top of what is required. That is, what is given beyond what is deserved.

The word will occur three more times in the last verse of the sūra (29), and there it will be the centre of the matter.