6. Sūrat al-Anʿām

165 verses. It is widely reported that it was revealed in the Meccan period. It takes its name from the practices concerning ٱلْأَنْعَٰم (livestock) discussed in verses 136-139.

In its final block the sūra arrives at a single question, and I record this as my own reading: qul halumma shuhadāʾakum (150) — "bring your witnesses as to who laid down the prohibition." This is what is prepared throughout the sūra: people ascribing to God the prohibitions they laid down themselves. And the answer comes in verses 151-153: the real list of prohibitions.

"Praise belongs to God, who created the heavens and the earth and made the darknesses and the light. Then those who deny set up equals to their Lord."

ٱلظُّلُمَٰتِ is plural, ٱلنُّورَ is singular. This usage was treated at al-Baqara 2/257 and it was recorded there: darkness is the absence of light, and the forms of absence are many; light is one. I rely on that treatment.

يَعْدِلُون — root ع-د-ل: to treat as equal; and justice.

The two branches of the root are worth recording, and I give this as an observation: ʿadl means both equivalence and justice. The verse uses the "treating as equal" branch — that is, the associating of partners comes from the same place as the justice branch of the root: counting a thing equal to a place that is not its own. And it was treated at Luqmān 31/13 that associating partners is named ẓulm (putting a thing somewhere other than its place). The two roots give the same picture.

"Then He decreed a term; and a term determined is with Him. Then you still doubt… Say: 'Travel through the earth, then look at what the end of those who cried lies was like.'"

Two ajals are named, and the lexicographers dwell on the distinction between them:

Both readings are transmitted; I do not impose a preference. The construction ajalun musammā was treated in six places in the index (al-Aḥqāf 46/3, al-Zumar 39/42, Fāṭir 35/45, Luqmān 31/29, al-ʿAnkabūt 29/53, al-Raʿd 13/2). I rely on that treatment.

وَمَا تَأْتِيهِم مِّنْ ءَايَةٍ مِّنْ ءَايَٰتِ رَبِّهِمْ إِلَّا كَانُوا۟ عَنْهَا مُعْرِضِينَ (4) — the pattern is built with mā … illā: it states that there is no exception.

قُلْ سِيرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ (11) — this command was treated in many places in the index (Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/21 and 40/82, Fāṭir 35/44, al-Furqān 25/40). And what was recorded there holds here too: the proof is brought not from a distant history but from the ruins along the road.

Qirṭās (a sheet for writing) and lamasūhu bi-aydīhim (their touching it with their hands) — the most concrete form of verification is supposed, and it is stated that it would still be rejected.

I record this as my own reading: the verse closes off the demand for a miracle with a counterfactual supposition. The same method was treated at al-Raʿd 13/31 (the moving of the mountains) and at Fuṣṣilat 41/44 the note was entered that "whichever option it had been, an objection would have been found." I rely on that treatment.

"Say: 'To whom belongs what is in the heavens and the earth?' Say: 'To God. He has written mercy upon Himself.'"

كَتَبَ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِ ٱلرَّحْمَة — "He has written mercy upon Himself."

The construction of the sentence must be recorded: kataba ʿalā nafsih — in Arabic this construction is used for a person's taking an obligation upon himself.

I record this as my own reading: the verse does not state mercy as an attribute — it gives it as a record written upon Himself. And the same expression will occur once more in the 54th verse of this sūra: kataba rabbukum ʿalā nafsihi'r-raḥma. The two occurrences are a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

And at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/7 the prayer of the angels (rabbanā wasiʿta kulla shayʾin raḥmatan wa ʿilmā) was treated, and it was recorded there that mercy is named before knowledge. The two sūras set up the same priority.

"And to Him belongs whatever rests in the night and the day… And if God touches you with harm, there is none to remove it but He. Say: 'What thing is greatest in testimony?' Say: 'God is witness between me and you.'"

مَا سَكَنَ فِى ٱلَّيْلِ وَٱلنَّهَارِ — the root س-ك-ن was treated at al-Anʿām 6/96 (wa jaʿala'l-layla sakanā) and at al-Fatḥ 48/4. The use here has the sense "everything that lodges, everything that comes to rest".

فَلَا كَاشِفَ لَهُۥٓ إِلَّا هُوَ — kashf (the lifting of the veil): treated at Qāf 50/22 (fa-kashafnā ʿanka ghiṭāʾak).

And it must be recorded that the sentence is built in two directions: for harm, lā kāshifa lahu; for good, fa-huwa ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr. Two situations, in two separate expressions.

قُلْ أَىُّ شَىْءٍ أَكْبَرُ شَهَٰدَةً — a question is asked and its answer is given in the same verse: quli'llāh.

I record this as an observation about the word order: two quls (say) come one after the other — one carries the question, the other the answer. No answer from the other side is awaited.

ٱلَّذِينَ ءَاتَيْنَٰهُمُ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ يَعْرِفُونَهُۥ كَمَا يَعْرِفُونَ أَبْنَآءَهُمُ (20) — "they know him as they know their own sons." The same expression was treated at al-Baqara 2/146; I rely on that treatment.

وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ ٱفْتَرَىٰ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا (21) — this pattern will return several times in the sūra (93, 144, 157). And it is directly connected with the backbone of the sūra: ascribing a prohibition to God.

ٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ كَذَبُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ (24) — "look how they lied against themselves." The one lied to is given as themselves.

"Among them are those who listen to you; but We have placed coverings over their hearts lest they understand it, and a heaviness in their ears… They both keep others away from it and themselves draw away. Thus they destroy none but themselves, and they are not aware of it."

These two words were treated in detail at Fuṣṣilat 41/5 — there they were said out of the mouths of the other side themselves: qulūbunā fī akinnatin … wa fī ādhāninā waqr. I rely on that treatment.

The two verses can be compared, and the difference must be recorded:

And at Fuṣṣilat 41/44 it was recorded that the same word (waqr) is used by the text as well. Three occurrences: claim, finding, statement.

Two verbs, very close to one another in sound and separate in meaning: yanhawna (to keep another away) and yanʾawna (to draw away oneself).

I record this as an observation about the word order: the sentence sets two separate verbs side by side in almost the same sound. And the two are given as the two faces of a single behaviour: the one who draws away himself also drives others away.

وَإِن يُهْلِكُونَ إِلَّآ أَنفُسَهُمْ — and where the outcome turns back to is stated. The same turning-back was treated at Fāṭir 35/43 (wa lā yaḥīqu'l-makru'l-sayyiʾu illā bi-ahlih); I rely on that treatment.

"When they are made to stand at the Fire they say: 'If only we were sent back, and did not cry lies to the signs of our Lord'… Were they sent back, they would return to the very thing they were forbidden."

The demand and its answer are given together, and this is worth recording.

The same demand was treated at Fāṭir 35/37, al-Sajda 32/12 and al-Muʾminūn 23/99-100, and a table of three was set up there. Al-Anʿām is the fourth link — and what it adds is the statement of what would happen were the demand met.

I record this as my own reading: the verse does not call the remorse false — it accepts that it is genuine, and still says that it will not change the outcome. Because what has changed is not the person but the situation he is in.

وَقَالُوٓا۟ إِنْ هِىَ إِلَّا حَيَاتُنَا ٱلدُّنْيَا وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَبْعُوثِينَ (29) — the same sentence was treated at al-Jāthiya 45/24; I rely on that treatment.

وَمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ (32) — laʿib and lahw: treated at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/64, Muḥammad 47/36 and in al-Ḥadīd. And in al-ʿAnkabūt it was answered with the word al-ḥayawān (real life).

"We know that what they say grieves you. In truth they are not calling you a liar; rather those wrongdoers knowingly deny the signs of God."

The sentence sets up a distinction, and the distinction is worth recording:

The ج-ح-د root: to deny knowingly. The root was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/26 and al-ʿAnkabūt 29/47, and the relation the lexicographers record with "the barrenness of soil" (arḍun jaḥād) was given there. I do not repeat it here.

I record this as my own reading: the verse does not take the grief away — it corrects its target. The words spoken appear to be aimed at the person; the verse takes this out of being a personal matter.

And this is one link in the line of limit treated at al-Kahf 18/6, al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/3, Fāṭir 35/8 and Luqmān 31/23 — but it has a difference: the others were limiting responsibility; this verse changes what the grief is directed at.

"Messengers before you were called liars too, and they bore with patience what they were called… If their turning away weighs upon you, then, if you are able, seek out a tunnel into the earth or a ladder into the sky and bring them a sign!"

This is one of the most striking consolations in the sūra, and it must be treated honestly.

Nafaq (an underground tunnel) and sullam (a ladder): two extreme directions — downward and upward.

I record this as my own reading: the sentence is not a command but a consolation made by showing an impossibility. And the consolation begins by accepting that the turning away weighs heavily (wa in kāna kabura ʿalayka iʿrāḍuhum). That is, the feeling is not treated as nothing.

And the same line was treated at al-Kahf 18/6, al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/3, Fāṭir 35/8 and al-Anʿām 6/33. What al-Anʿām adds: the limit being given with a depiction of impossibility.

إِنَّمَا يَسْتَجِيبُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَسْمَعُونَ (36) — "only those who hear respond." And at Fuṣṣilat 41/4 (fa-hum lā yasmaʿūn) it was recorded that not hearing is the consequence of turning away.

"There is no creature moving on the earth, and no bird flying with its two wings, but that they are communities like you. We have left nothing out in the Book."

أُمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُم — "communities like you."

I record this as an observation: the verse names living beings not as individual creatures but as communities — and with the same word used for the human community (umam).

The word dābba was analysed at al-Jāthiya 45/4 (a living thing that moves). And the redundancy in the expression ṭāʾirin yaṭīru bi-janāḥayh is worth recording: "a bird flying with its two wings" — how the flying is done is stated separately. The lexicographers explain expressions of this kind as bringing the depiction before the eye.

مَّا فَرَّطْنَا فِى ٱلْكِتَٰبِ مِن شَىْءٍ — "We have left nothing out in the Book."

There is disagreement in the classical works of tafsīr over what is meant by al-kitāb:

Both readings are transmitted; I do not impose a preference. A note, per the method (Method): I draw from this verse no conclusion such as "the Qurʾān contains all the sciences"; a claim of that kind does not follow necessarily from the wording of the verse, and the disagreement must not be concealed.

"Those who cry lies to Our signs are deaf and dumb, in darknesses… Say: 'If God's punishment came upon you, or the Hour came upon you, would you call upon any other than God?'"

صُمٌّ وَبُكْمٌ — the same pair was treated at al-Baqara 2/18 and al-Anfāl 8/22.

بَلْ إِيَّاهُ تَدْعُونَ فَيَكْشِفُ مَا تَدْعُونَ إِلَيْهِ إِن شَآءَ وَتَنسَوْنَ مَا تُشْرِكُونَ (41) — "no, it is Him alone you call upon; and if He wills He removes what you called upon Him about, and you forget what you associate with Him."

This is one link in the line of "sincerity in danger" treated in many places in the index: al-ʿAnkabūt 29/65, Luqmān 31/32, Yūnus 10/22-23. I rely on that treatment.

What al-Anʿām adds must be recorded: in the others the scene was set at sea; here the kind of danger is not specified (ʿadhāb Allāh or al-sāʿa) — and the verb comes in the imperfect, that is, as a behaviour that is ongoing.

Wa tansawna mā tushrikūn — "and you forget what you associate with Him." I record this as an observation: the verse speaks not of abandoning but of forgetting — that is, it is not even a conscious renunciation.

Wa laqad arsalnā ilā umamin min qablika fa-akhadhnāhum bi'l-baʾsāʾi wa'l-ḍarrāʾi laʿallahum yataḍarraʿūn · Fa-law lā idh jāʾahum baʾsunā taḍarraʿū wa lākin qasat qulūbuhum · Fa-lammā nasū mā dhukkirū bihi fataḥnā ʿalayhim abwāba kulli shayʾin ḥattā idhā fariḥū bimā ūtū akhadhnāhum baghtatan fa-idhā hum mublisūn

"We sent messengers to communities before you, and We seized them with hardship and affliction, that they might humble themselves. If only they had humbled themselves when Our might came upon them! But their hearts hardened… When they forgot what they had been reminded of, We opened upon them the doors of everything. Then, just as they were exulting in what they had been given, We seized them suddenly, and all their hope was cut off."

The verses describe two separate methods one after the other, and this is worth recording:

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the order of the verses: the second stage comes as the opposite of the first. That is, when constraint did not work, abundance is given — and abundance too works as a trial.

The pair ب-ا-س and ض-ر-ر was treated at al-Baqara 2/214 (massathumu'l-baʾsāʾu wa'l-ḍarrāʾ). I rely on that treatment.

فَرِحُوا۟ بِمَآ أُوتُوٓا۟ — the root ف-ر-ح was treated at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/75 (the difference between faraḥ and maraḥ) and at al-Raʿd 13/26.

مُّبْلِسُون — root ب-ل-س: to lose hope and fall silent. The lexicographers explain iblās as "the tongue being seized by helplessness"; it is also recorded that the name Iblīs is connected with this root. The root was treated in al-Zukhruf.

And the analysis of mutraf (one spoilt by abundance) was treated at Sabaʾ 34/34-37; the same root had occurred at al-Wāqiʿa 56/45 as well. These verses show the mechanism of that line.

"Say: 'If God took away your hearing and your sight and set a seal upon your hearts, what god other than God could bring it back to you?'"

The triad of ear, eye and heart was treated in seven places in the index (al-Aḥqāf 46/26, al-Jāthiya 45/23, Fuṣṣilat 41/20, al-Sajda 32/9, al-Muʾminūn 23/78, al-Isrāʾ 17/36, al-Aʿrāf 7/179). Al-Anʿām is the eighth link.

And the difference here must be recorded, and this is a datum from the text:

I record this as my own reading: al-Anʿām uses the same triad by way of a supposition of loss — that is, that there is no guarantee that what is in hand will stay in hand.

وَمَا نُرْسِلُ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ إِلَّا مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنذِرِينَ (48) — the same pair was treated at al-Furqān 25/56; I rely on that treatment.

"Say: 'I do not say to you that the treasuries of God are with me, nor do I know the unseen, nor do I say to you that I am an angel. I follow only what is revealed to me.'"

The sentence rejects three claims, and all three were things the other side demanded at al-Furqān 25/7-8:

What is seen when the two sūras are compared is this, and I record it as my own reading: in al-Furqān these things were demanded; in al-Anʿām it is said that they were never claimed at all. That is, instead of meeting the demand, the answer states that the claim was never made.

إِنْ أَتَّبِعُ إِلَّا مَا يُوحَىٰٓ إِلَىَّ — the same sentence was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/9 and Yūnus 10/15. I rely on that treatment.

"Warn with it those who fear that they will be gathered to their Lord — they have neither protector nor intercessor besides Him — that they may guard themselves."

The one addressed by the warning is fixed by a condition: alladhīna yakhāfūna an yuḥsharū.

The same condition was treated at Fāṭir 35/18 (innamā tundhiru'lladhīna yakhshawna rabbahum bi'l-ghayb) and it was recorded there: the effect of the warning is tied to a condition on the side of the one addressed. I rely on that treatment.

And the verse's link with the next verse is worth recording: verse 52 begins with wa lā taṭrudi'lladhīna yadʿūna rabbahum. Two verses one after the other: one says who is to be warned, the other who is not to be driven away.

"Do not drive away those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His face. Nothing of their reckoning falls upon you."

This verse is in the same field as al-Kahf 18/28 (waṣbir nafsaka maʿa'lladhīna yadʿūna rabbahum bi'l-ghadāti wa'l-ʿashiyy) and it was treated there. The two verses can be compared:

The same group, one with a positive and one with a negative command. And the same matter was treated in ʿAbasa. In all three places the measure is the same: not the standing of the one addressed, but the direction he faces.

مَا عَلَيْكَ مِنْ حِسَابِهِم مِّن شَىْءٍ — and the ground: the transfer of responsibility for the reckoning. This distinction was treated at al-Raʿd 13/40 (innamā ʿalayka'l-balāghu wa ʿalayna'l-ḥisāb); I rely on that treatment.

"Thus We tried some of them by means of others, so that they would say: 'Is it these whom God has favoured from among us?'… And when those who believe in Our signs come to you, say: 'Peace be upon you! Your Lord has written mercy upon Himself.'"

The ground of the command in the fifty-second verse (not to drive away) is given here: fatannā baʿḍahum bi-baʿḍ — a trying of them by one another.

And the concept of fitna was treated at al-Anfāl 8/25 and al-Kahf 18/7. The difference here must be recorded: the instrument of trial is neither property nor an event — it is people.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the sentence transmitted: a-hāʾulāʾi manna'llāhu ʿalayhim min bayninā — "is it these, from among us?" The objection is about to whom what was given was given. And the same logic was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/11 (law kāna khayran mā sabaqūnā ilayh) and at al-Zukhruf 43/31.

فَقُلْ سَلَٰمٌ عَلَيْكُمْ — and the command is given as the opposite of driving away: peace.

The expression kataba ʿalā nafsihi'r-raḥma had occurred in the 12th verse of this sūra. The two occurrences are a repetition that can be verified within the sūra — and both come in a context of inclusiveness.

قُلْ إِنِّى نُهِيتُ أَنْ أَعْبُدَ ٱلَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ (56) — the same sentence was treated at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/66; I rely on that treatment.

"With Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them but He. He knows whatever is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but He knows it."

مَفَاتِح — it may be the plural of miftāḥ (key) or of maftaḥ (treasury); the lexicographers record both readings.

And the scale is worth recording: wa mā tasquṭu min waraqatin illā yaʿlamuhā — a falling leaf.

I record this as my own reading: the verse gives the scope of the knowledge by way of the least important and least noticeable event. And the mustard seed at Luqmān 31/16 and the measure of a mote at Sabaʾ 34/3 did the same work. Three sūras, three separate smallest things.

And the list of five items was treated at Luqmān 31/34, and it was recorded there: the verse does not set up a list in the form "everything is known except these five things". I keep the same limit here as well.

"It is He who takes your souls by night, and knows what you have earned by day, and then raises you up in it, so that a determined term may be completed."

This verse is in the same field as al-Zumar 39/42 (Allāhu yatawaffa'l-anfusa ḥīna mawtihā wa'llatī lam tamut fī manāmihā) and it was treated in detail there: the binding of sleep and death to the same verb, and the pair yumsiku / yursilu. I rely on that treatment.

The difference here must be recorded:

Al-Anʿām names the waking of the day with the verb baʿth (raising up). I record this as an observation: the same fact is named with two separate verbs in two sūras, and both belong to the language of the hereafter.

مَا جَرَحْتُم بِٱلنَّهَارِ — the root ج-ر-ح was analysed at al-Jāthiya 45/21 (to wound; and to earn — jawāriḥ: both birds of prey and the limbs). I do not repeat it here.

"He is the Subduer over His servants, and He sends keepers over you… Say: 'He has the power to send upon you a punishment from above you or from beneath your feet, or to confound you into factions and make some of you taste the violence of others.'"

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the difference of the third: the first two are a disaster coming from outside; the third is the community's dividing within itself. And the verse counts all three in the same list.

The word shiyaʿ will occur once more in the 159th verse of this sūra (wa kānū shiyaʿā) and it was treated at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/4 as Pharaoh's dividing of his people. Three occurrences: possibility, act, outcome.

يَلْبِسَكُمْ — root ل-ب-س: to confuse, to cover (the sense of clothing comes from this root too). The root was treated at al-Baqara 2/42 (wa lā talbisu'l-ḥaqqa bi'l-bāṭil).

The link between وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى يَتَوَفَّىٰكُم بِٱلَّيْلِ (60) and this block is worth recording: keepers are sent, but when the term is up the tawaffā comes (ḥattā idhā jāʾa aḥadakumu'l-mawtu tawaffathu rusulunā, 61).

"When you see those who plunge into talk about Our signs, turn away from them until they plunge into some other talk."

The خ-و-ض root: to wade into water and walk on; and to plunge into a piece of talk. The root was treated in al-Zukhruf, al-Ṭūr, al-Maʿārij and al-Muddaththir.

And the limit of the command is worth recording: ḥattā yakhūḍū fī ḥadīthin ghayrih — until they pass to some other talk.

I record this as my own reading: the turning away is not without term; it is tied to the subject. And it is tied not to persons but to what is being said. That is, the separation is not set up as a permanent break.

The same field was treated at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/46 (wa lā tujādilū ahla'l-kitābi illā bi'llatī hiya aḥsan) and at al-Furqān 25/72 (wa idhā marrū bi'l-laghwi marrū kirāmā). The three verses are read together: one states the method of dispute, one the passing by of idle talk, and one how long one is to keep away.

"Nothing of their reckoning falls upon those who guard themselves; but let it be a reminder (so let them turn away). Leave those who take their religion as play and amusement, whom the life of this world has deluded."

The command in the sixty-eighth verse (turning away) is completed here with a qualification: wa mā ʿalā'lladhīna yattaqūna min ḥisābihim min shayʾ.

The same expression had occurred at al-Anʿām 6/52 (mā ʿalayka min ḥisābihim min shayʾ). Two occurrences: one to the Prophet, the other to those who guard themselves in general. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

وَغَرَّتْهُمُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَا — the root غ-ر-ر was treated in detail at Fāṭir 35/5 (the outward appearance dazzling, the inside empty). And the note wa lā yaghurrannakum bi'llāhi'l-gharūr was given there as well.

وَذَكِّرْ بِهِۦٓ أَن تُبْسَلَ نَفْسٌۢ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ (70) — ibsāl (ب-س-ل): to be left as a pledge, to be handed over. The word occurs rarely in the Qurʾān.

وَأُمِرْنَا لِنُسْلِمَ لِرَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ (71) — and the block closes with the command to submit.

Fa-lammā janna ʿalayhi'l-laylu raʾā kawkaban qāla hādhā rabbī fa-lammā afala qāla lā uḥibbu'l-āfilīn

"When the night covered him he saw a star and said, 'This is my Lord!' When it set he said, 'I do not love those that set.'"

Three stages, repeated in the same pattern:

And at each stage something grows larger: star → moon → sun. The measure is the other side's own measure: size. In the third this is said openly: hādhā akbar.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the sequence: the reasoning is carried out within the other side's measure, and that measure is shown to exhaust itself. All three set.

The أ-ف-ل root: to set, to vanish from sight. The choice of the word is worth recording: the shared attribute is not size but vanishing.

There is disagreement over this passage in the classical works of tafsīr, and it must not be concealed:

All three readings are transmitted; I do not impose a preference.

But an indication that can be verified from the text may be recorded: verse 76 begins with fa-lammā janna ʿalayhi'l-layl, and verse 83 names the whole passage wa tilka ḥujjatunā ātaynāhā Ibrāhīma ʿalā qawmih — "and that was Our argument, which We gave to Abraham against his people." This is an indication that supports the first reading. I record it as an indication, not as a preference.

وَحَآجَّهُۥ قَوْمُهُۥ قَالَ أَتُحَٰٓجُّوٓنِّى فِى ٱللَّهِ وَقَدْ هَدَىٰنِ (80) — the root ح-ج-ج was treated at al-Jāthiya 45/25 and Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/47.

"And We granted him Isaac (Isḥāq) and Jacob (Yaʿqūb); each We guided… Those are the ones God has guided; so follow their guidance."

The block gives a list of prophets, and the function of the list must be recorded.

Abraham's reasoning (74-83) had closed with wa tilka ḥujjatunā. And immediately afterwards those who walk in the same line are counted.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is verse 90: fa-bi-hudāhumu'qtadih — "follow their guidance." That is, the list is given not as a chain of descent but as a line to be followed. And the same line was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/9 (mā kuntu bidʿan mina'l-rusul).

قُل لَّآ أَسْـَٔلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا ذِكْرَىٰ لِلْعَٰلَمِينَ (90) — the refusal to ask for a wage was treated at al-Furqān 25/57 and al-Shūrā 42/23; I rely on that treatment.

And there is a detail in the list worth recording: wa min ābāʾihim wa dhurriyyātihim wa ikhwānihim (87) — fathers, offspring and brothers are named separately; that is, the list is not presented as a closed set.

"They did not measure God with the measure due to Him, for they said, 'God has sent down nothing to any human being.'"

The sentence occurred with the same wording at al-Zumar 39/67 and it was treated there (the root ق-د-ر: measure; and the note on tanzīh). I rely on that treatment.

The difference here must be recorded:

I record this as my own reading: the same sentence names two separate deficiencies. And the one in al-Anʿām is the finer: the existence of God is not denied — what is denied is that He could speak.

"This is a blessed Book We have sent down, confirming what came before it… And you have come to Us one by one, just as We created you the first time."

Muṣaddiqu'lladhī bayna yadayh — treated at Fāṭir 35/31 and al-Aḥqāf 46/12; umm al-qurā — treated at al-Shūrā 42/7. I rely on that treatment.

وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ ٱفْتَرَىٰ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا أَوْ قَالَ أُوحِىَ إِلَىَّ وَلَمْ يُوحَ إِلَيْهِ شَىْءٌ (93) — the pattern occurs for the second time in this sūra (21, 93). And the two alternatives here are worth recording: inventing a lie, and saying that revelation has come.

Furādā (one by one) — treated at Maryam 19/95 (wa kulluhum ātīhi yawma'l-qiyāmati fardā); khawwalnākum — treated at al-Zumar 39/8 and 39/49 (khawwalahū niʿmatan), and it was recorded there: what is given is named not as property but as something given into one's keeping. I rely on that treatment.

And the expression warāʾa ẓuhūrikum (behind your backs) is worth recording: the things left behind remain on the unseen side. I give this as an observation: the last verse of the sūra (165) will say that what is given is an instrument of trial; this verse shows where that instrument is left.

"God is the splitter of the grain and the date-stone… He is the cleaver of the daybreak. He has made the night for rest, and the sun and the moon a measure of reckoning."

The root ف-ل-ق: to split, to cleave in two. The root was treated in al-Falaq in connection with the name of the sūra, and in al-Ṭāriq and al-Aʿlā.

And the two occurrences of the word must be recorded:

The same verb: one the smallest thing in the palm of the hand, the other the whole horizon. I record this as my own reading: the verse joins the two scales with the same verb — the cracking of a seed and the breaking of dawn are named as the same work.

And at Fāṭir 35/1 it was treated that the root ف-ط-ر (to split) carries the same picture; I rely on that treatment. The two roots come from the same image.

وَجَعَلَ ٱلَّيْلَ سَكَنًا — the root س-ك-ن was treated at al-Fatḥ 48/4 (sakīna) and at al-Rūm 30/21 (li-taskunū ilayhā). And at al-Furqān 25/47 the night was named libās (a garment). Three sūras give the function of the night with three words: repose, garment, rest.

حُسْبَانًا — a measure of reckoning. Per the method (Method): I draw no conclusion about modern astronomy from this; the verse states that the sun and the moon are fit for the measuring of time — and this occurs in the same form at Yūnus 10/5.

"They set up the jinn as partners to God — though it was He who created them. Without knowledge they invented for Him sons and daughters… He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth without a model. How should He have a child, when He has no consort?"

خَرَقُوا۟ — root خ-ر-ق: to split, to tear; and to invent. The choice of the word is worth recording: the act of inventing is given with the picture of tearing.

And at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/17 (wa takhluqūna ifkā) the "inventing" branch of the root خ-ل-ق was treated. The two roots describe the same act with two separate pictures: one shaping, the other tearing.

بَدِيع — root ب-د-ع: to bring forth for the first time what has no precedent. The root was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/9 (mā kuntu bidʿan) and in al-Ḥadīd.

And the construction of the proof must be recorded: annā yakūnu lahū waladun wa lam takun lahū ṣāḥiba.

I record this as an observation: the verse tests the claim within its own logic — the concept of a child requires a consort. And at Maryam 19/88-93 the same claim had been met by another route (everyone coming as a servant). The two sūras set up two separate proofs.

"Sight does not grasp Him, but He grasps all sight. He is the one who penetrates to the finest thing, the All-Aware."

The د-ر-ك root: to catch up with, to reach, to grasp. The root was treated at Yāsīn 36/40 and al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/61.

And the choice of the verb must be recorded: lā tudrikuhu — "does not grasp", not "does not see".

The lexicographers record this difference: idrāk is to reach a thing and encompass it; ruʾya is only to see. This distinction is one of the supports of the theological debate over the question of the vision of God.

Per the method (Method): no theological debate is entered into in this commentary. I confine myself to transmitting the readings in the classical works of tafsīr, and I do not impose a preference.

And the symmetry the verse itself sets up is worth recording: lā tudrikuhu'l-abṣār / wa huwa yudriku'l-abṣār. The same verb, in two directions: one negative, the other positive. And the same structure was treated at al-Baqara 2/255 (wa lā yuḥīṭūna bi-shayʾin min ʿilmih): the encompassing being one-way.

ٱللَّطِيف — the root ل-ط-ف was treated at Luqmān 31/16 (to penetrate to the finest place). And the placing of the attribute here is worth recording: the one who cannot be seen is named as the one who reaches the finest thing. That is, distance and nearness stand in the same sentence — this is the same structure as the one treated at al-Shūrā 42/11 (laysa ka-mithlihī shayʾun wa huwa'l-samīʿu'l-baṣīr).

"Clear insights have come to you from your Lord. Whoever sees, it is for himself; whoever is blind, it is against himself. And I am not a keeper over you."

بَصَآئِر — the plural of baṣīra: sight, insight. The word was treated at al-Jāthiya 45/20 (hādhā baṣāʾiru li'l-nās); I rely on that treatment.

And the symmetry of the sentence must be recorded: fa-man abṣara fa-li-nafsih wa man ʿamiya fa-ʿalayhā. Two opposite outcomes in the same verbal field, in the same pattern.

وَمَآ أَنَا۠ عَلَيْكُم بِحَفِيظٍ — the limit of responsibility. A table of this limit covering seven sūras was set up at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/56; al-Anʿām adds one more link: ḥafīẓ (keeper).

وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُصَرِّفُ ٱلْـَٔايَٰتِ وَلِيَقُولُوا۟ دَرَسْتَ (105) — taṣrīf (turning a thing about and about in the telling) was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/27 and al-Jāthiya 45/5. And variant readings of darasta (you have studied / you have been taught) are transmitted; I record this without giving the name of an imam.

وَلَوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مَآ أَشْرَكُوا۟ وَمَا جَعَلْنَٰكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَفِيظًا (107) — and the same word (ḥafīẓ) occurs a second time three verses later. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

"Do not revile those they call upon besides God, lest they revile God in enmity, without knowledge."

The verse lays down a prohibition and gives its ground by way of its consequence: fa-yasubbu'llāha ʿadwan bi-ghayri ʿilm.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the letter fāʾ: the prohibition is tied, before the wrongness of the reviling itself, to the response it will produce. That is, the measure is laid down with the other side's reaction taken into account.

And the same field was treated at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/46 (bi'llatī hiya aḥsan), at Fuṣṣilat 41/34 (idfaʿ bi'llatī hiya aḥsan) and at al-Anʿām 6/68 (fa-aʿriḍ ʿanhum). The four verses together set up a method: the form of dispute, the form of response, the limit of keeping away, and the limit of speech.

كَذَٰلِكَ زَيَّنَّا لِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ عَمَلَهُمْ — and what follows states that everyone sees his own doing as fine. The verb tazyīn was treated at Fāṭir 35/8, Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/37 and al-Anfāl 8/48; here the agent is named openly and the scope is given as "every community".

"They swore by God with their most solemn oaths that if a sign came to them they would surely believe in it… Had We sent the angels down to them, and had the dead spoken to them, and had We gathered everything before them, they still would not have believed."

The oath and what comes after it are worth recording.

The same structure was treated at Fāṭir 35/42 (wa aqsamū bi'llāhi jahda aymānihim la-in jāʾahum nadhīrun la-yakūnunna ahdā min iḥda'l-umam) and it was recorded there: when the warning came, the recoiling increased. I rely on that treatment.

And what al-Anʿām adds must be recorded: the verse also says what would happen were the sign given — three possibilities being counted. The same method had occurred at al-Raʿd 13/31 (the moving of the mountains) and at al-Anʿām 6/7 (a book on paper). Three occurrences: a weave that can be verified within the sūra and across sūras.

وَنُقَلِّبُ أَفْـِٔدَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَٰرَهُمْ كَمَا لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا۟ بِهِۦٓ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ (110) — taqallub (turning about) and afʾida: the root ف-ء-د was treated in al-Wāqiʿa and at al-Aḥqāf 46/26.

Zukhrufa'l-qawl — "gilded speech": the root ز-خ-ر-ف was treated in al-Zukhruf in connection with the name of the sūra. I rely on that treatment.

And the expression yūḥī baʿḍuhum ilā baʿḍ is worth recording: the word waḥy is used here for covert prompting between human beings. The root's sense of "a hidden and swift communication" had been treated at al-Naḥl 16/68 (of the bee).

أَفَغَيْرَ ٱللَّهِ أَبْتَغِى حَكَمًا وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ إِلَيْكُمُ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ مُفَصَّلًا (114) — mufaṣṣalan: the root ف-ص-ل was treated in Fuṣṣilat in connection with the name of the sūra.

"If you obey most of those on the earth, they will lead you astray from the way of God. They follow nothing but conjecture."

The measure must be recorded: akthara man fi'l-arḍ — the majority.

I record this as an observation: the verse openly rejects the majority as a measure. And its ground is tied to knowledge: in yattabiʿūna illa'l-ẓann.

The root ظ-ن-ن was the whole axis of al-Jāthiya (45/24, 45/32) and at Fuṣṣilat 41/23 it was treated that conjecture is a cause of ruin, and the same ruling at Yūnus 10/36 (inna'l-ẓanna lā yughnī mina'l-ḥaqqi shayʾā). I rely on that treatment.

"Your Lord knows best who strays from His way, and He knows best those who are guided. So eat of that over which the name of God has been pronounced — if you are believers in His signs."

The link between the two verses is worth recording, and I give this as my own reading: in verse 116 it was said that following the majority is rejected. In 117 it is stated whose the judgement is, and in 118 a concrete application comes.

That is, the sūra comes down from an abstract argument about measure (majority, or knowledge?) to a decision at the table.

And the command fa-kulū is the door of the last block of the sūra: the ground will be given in 119-121, the invented prohibitions will be taken up in 136-150, and the real list will be read out in 151-153.

إِن كُنتُم بِـَٔايَٰتِهِۦ مُؤْمِنِينَ — and the condition must be recorded: eating is bound to it as a sign of faith. I record this as an observation: the sūra relates the lifting of a self-imposed prohibition to faith.

"Why should you not eat of that over which the name of God has been pronounced, when He has set out in detail what He has forbidden you — except what you are compelled to? Many lead others astray by their own desires, without knowledge."

The direction of the verse must be recorded, and I give this as my own reading: the sentence does not lay down a prohibition — it questions the laying down of a prohibition. Wa mā lakum allā taʾkulū — "why should you not eat?"

And the ground is given with two qualifications:

The dispensation of iḍṭirār was treated at al-Baqara 2/173; I rely on that treatment.

بِأَهْوَآئِهِم بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ — the instrument of leading astray: hawā and the absence of knowledge. For hawā I rely on al-Jāthiya 45/23 and al-Furqān 25/43.

And this verse opens the door of the last block of the sūra: in verses 136-150 the prohibitions people laid down themselves will be taken up.

"Is one who was dead and whom We brought to life, and for whom We made a light by which he walks among people, like one whose likeness is in darknesses from which he cannot come out?"

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the expression yamshī bihi fi'l-nās: the light given is not for himself alone — it is for walking among people. That is, guidance is described not as an inner state on its own but as a road that is walked.

And here too darkness is plural and light singular — the same pattern as in the first verse of the sūra. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

"And thus in every town We have set the chief men among its criminals, to plot therein… God knows best where to place His message."

أَكَٰبِرَ مُجْرِمِيهَا — "the great ones among its criminals."

I record this as an observation: the verse states that the opposition is everywhere and comes at the hands of the leading men. And the same structure was treated at al-Zukhruf 43/23 (wa kadhālika mā arsalnā min qablika fī qaryatin min nadhīrin illā qāla mutrafūhā); the same pattern was present at Sabaʾ 34/34 as well. Three sūras record the same pattern.

ٱللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ حَيْثُ يَجْعَلُ رِسَالَتَهُ — and this sentence is the answer to the dispute over to whom the message will be given.

The same objection was treated at al-Zukhruf 43/31-32 (law lā nuzzila hādha'l-qurʾānu ʿalā rajulin mina'l-qaryatayni ʿaẓīm) and the rejection of measuring worth by wealth was recorded there. I rely on that treatment.

And the same line was treated at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/68 (wa rabbuka yakhluqu mā yashāʾu wa yakhtār). The three verses are read together: the measure of the choosing lies with the one who chooses.

"Whomever God wills to guide, He opens his breast to Islam. And whomever He wills to let go astray, He makes his breast narrow and tight — as though he were climbing up into the sky."

The root ش-ر-ح was treated in al-Inshirāḥ in connection with the name of the sūra, and at al-Zumar 39/22. I do not repeat it here.

And the comparison is worth recording: ka-annamā yaṣṣaʿʿadu fi'l-samāʾ — "as though he were climbing up into the sky."

I record this as my own reading: the comparison describes shortness of breath — the drawing of breath growing harder as one climbs. And the verb is in Form V (yaṣṣaʿʿadu): a climbing with effort, step by step.

A note, per the method (Method): I draw from this comparison no claim about modern physiology. What the verse gives is an experience that the people of that day knew as well: the tightening of the chest as one goes up high. And this is what the limit kept in the index requires.

"This is the straight way of your Lord… 'O company of jinn and human beings! Did messengers not come to you from among you, recounting My signs to you?'"

يَٰمَعْشَرَ ٱلْجِنِّ وَٱلْإِنسِ — the same address was treated at al-Raḥmān 55/33; I rely on that treatment.

And the qualification in the question is worth recording: rusulun minkum — "from among you."

I record this as an observation: the principle treated at Fāṭir 35/24 (wa in min ummatin illā khalā fīhā nadhīr) and at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/59 (ḥattā yabʿatha fī ummihā rasūlā) comes here in the form of a question — and its answer is given in the same verse: qālū shahidnā ʿalā anfusinā.

ذَٰلِكَ أَن لَّمْ يَكُن رَّبُّكَ مُهْلِكَ ٱلْقُرَىٰ بِظُلْمٍ وَأَهْلُهَا غَٰفِلُونَ (131) — "Your Lord would not destroy the towns wrongfully while their people were unaware."

Two qualifications at once: bi-ẓulm and wa ahluhā ghāfilūn. That is, both wrongfulness and unawareness are excluded.

وَرَبُّكَ ٱلْغَنِىُّ ذُو ٱلرَّحْمَةِ إِن يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ وَيَسْتَخْلِفْ مِنۢ بَعْدِكُم مَّا يَشَآءُ (133) — istikhlāf: the root خ-ل-ف was treated at Fāṭir 35/39 (khalāʾif) and will be treated at the 165th verse of this sūra.

قُلْ يَٰقَوْمِ ٱعْمَلُوا۟ عَلَىٰ مَكَانَتِكُمْ إِنِّى عَامِلٌ (135) — this sentence of the parting of ways was treated at al-Zumar 39/39 and at Fuṣṣilat 41/5 (from the other side); I rely on that treatment. This is the third link.

Wa jaʿalū li'llāhi mimmā dharaʾa mina'l-ḥarthi wa'l-anʿāmi naṣīban fa-qālū hādhā li'llāhi bi-zaʿmihim wa hādhā li-shurakāʾinā

"They assigned to God a share of the crops and the livestock He had produced, and said, by their own claim: 'This is God's, and this is for our partners.'"

This block both gives the sūra its name and completes its backbone. And the operation performed is described in three stages:

بِزَعْمِهِمْ — the root ز-ع-م was treated at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/62 (a claim without support). And the placing of the word here is worth recording: in describing what is done, the verse records in the same sentence that it is a claim.

حِجْر — root ح-ج-ر: to forbid, to set apart. The root was treated in al-Ḥujurāt and at al-Furqān 25/53 (ḥijran maḥjūrā).

وَكَذَٰلِكَ زَيَّنَ لِكَثِيرٍ مِّنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ قَتْلَ أَوْلَٰدِهِمْ شُرَكَآؤُهُمْ (137) — and the killing of children enters the same list.

This matter was treated in al-Takwīr under mawʾūda and at al-Isrāʾ 17/31 (wa lā taqtulū awlādakum khashyata imlāq). I rely on that treatment.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the order of the verses: the sūra names the food prohibitions and the killing of children in the same block. The common point: both are done on a religious ground, and neither has any support.

"It is He who brought into being gardens trellised and untrellised… Eat of their fruit when they bear, and give its due on the day of harvest, and do not be wasteful. He does not love the wasteful."

مَّعْرُوشَٰت — root ع-ر-ش: a trellis, a vine trained over a frame. The word denotes the frame on which the vine is raised in viticulture.

And the place of the verse must be recorded: verses 136-140 had described the invented shares and prohibitions. Verse 141 gives the real ruling about the same produce:

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the two blocks come one after the other: against the invented apportionment the sūra sets a single due — the one to be given on the day of harvest. And it adds a qualification: wa lā tusrifū.

For isrāf I rely on al-Furqān 25/67 (lam yusrifū wa lam yaqturū) and al-Zumar 39/53 (asrafū ʿalā anfusihim).

"Say: 'Is it the two males He has forbidden, or the two females? Or what the wombs of the two females contain? Inform me with knowledge, if you are truthful.'"

The question is asked by counting the possibilities one by one, and each time it goes unanswered.

I record this as my own reading: the method forces the other side into the detail of its own claim. If a prohibition has been laid down, it must be possible to say what has been forbidden. And when the detail is gone into, it becomes visible that the claim has no support.

نَبِّـُٔونِى بِعِلْمٍ — "inform me with knowledge."

And this demand is one link in the line of proof treated in many places in the index: al-Aḥqāf 46/4 (iʾtūnī bi-kitābin … aw athāratin min ʿilm), Luqmān 31/11 (fa-arūnī mādhā khalaqa), Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/35 (bi-ghayri sulṭānin atāhum), al-Qaṣaṣ 28/75 (hātū burhānakum). What al-Anʿām adds: the demand being put about a claim of prohibition.

"Say: 'In what has been revealed to me I do not find anything forbidden to one who eats, except carrion, or blood poured out, or the flesh of swine…'"

The construction of the sentence must be recorded, and I give this as my own reading: the verse does not say "these things are forbidden" — it says lā ajidu fīmā ūḥiya ilayya muḥarraman — "in what has been revealed to me I do not find".

That is, the ruling is given not as the proclamation of a list but as a search of the text in hand. And this coincides exactly with the backbone of the sūra: in verse 150 it will be said hātū shuhadāʾakum — the support for the prohibition will be asked for.

The qualification إِلَّا مَا ٱضْطُرِرْتُمْ إِلَيْهِ had occurred in the 119th verse of this sūra as well. And it was treated at al-Baqara 2/173.

وَعَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ هَادُوا۟ حَرَّمْنَا كُلَّ ذِى ظُفُرٍ … ذَٰلِكَ جَزَيْنَٰهُم بِبَغْيِهِمْ (146) — A note, per the method (Method): the verse states a particular ruling laid upon a particular community, and its ground; it issues no blanket ruling about a group. Indeed the ground is tied to an act: bi-baghyihim.

The root baghy was treated at al-Shūrā 42/14 and al-Ḥujurāt 49/9.

فَإِن كَذَّبُوكَ فَقُل رَّبُّكُمْ ذُو رَحْمَةٍ وَٰسِعَةٍ (147) — and the block closes, in the face of their crying lies, with a reminder of mercy. This is on the same line as kataba ʿalā nafsihi'r-raḥma in verses 12 and 54 of the sūra.

"Those who associate partners will say: 'Had God willed, we would not have associated partners'… Say: 'The conclusive argument belongs to God.' Say: 'Bring your witnesses who will testify that God forbade this.'"

The first objection is a claim about destiny: law shāʾa'llāhu mā ashraknā.

The same logic was treated at Yāsīn 36/47 (law yashāʾu'llāhu aṭʿamah) and it was recorded there: the premise is true, the conclusion false — what is criticised is not the belief in destiny itself but its being used to escape responsibility. I rely on that treatment.

And the answer is worth recording: the verse does not enter into the argument — it says fa-li'llāhi'l-ḥujjatu'l-bāligha. And after that it passes to the second question: hātū shuhadāʾakum.

I record this as my own reading: instead of carrying on the argument about destiny, the sūra turns to a concrete demand: a witness as to who laid down the prohibition. And this is the knot of the whole last block of the sūra — indeed the next verse will give the real list.

Qul taʿālaw atlu mā ḥarrama rabbukum ʿalaykum

"Say: 'Come, I will recite what your Lord has forbidden you.'"

A list is given over three verses, and it can be set out as a table:

And it must be recorded that the list overlaps with the list at al-Isrāʾ 17/23-39; most of the same items were treated in detail there. I rely on that treatment.

Three details are worth recording:

One. The lā taqrabū pattern is used in two items (4 and 6): the prohibition begins not at the act itself but at the distance that leads to it. This pattern was treated at al-Baqara 2/187.

Two. The eighth item — wa idhā qultum fa-ʿdilū wa law kāna dhā qurbā — places justice in speech ahead of the bond of kinship. The same principle was treated at al-Nisāʾ 4/135 (wa law ʿalā anfusikum).

Three. The list opens in order to recite prohibitions (atlu mā ḥarrama rabbukum) but it contains commands as well (goodness to parents, honesty in measure, justice, fidelity).

I record this as my own reading: after rejecting the list of prohibitions that people invented (136-140), the sūra gives the real list — and that list contains not a single item about food. The contrast lies in the content of the list.

وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ ٱلسُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦ — the contrast between the singular sabīl and the plural subul.

And it was treated at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/69 (la-nahdiyannahum subulanā — plural), and it was recorded there that the plural means more than one road. The two verses do not conflict, and the difference must be recorded: in al-ʿAnkabūt the plural is roads that belong to Him, in al-Anʿām the plural is roads that part one from His way. What is decisive is whom the construct is made to.

"Then We gave Moses (Mūsā) the Book… lest you should say: 'The Book was sent down only to two communities before us, and we were unaware of their study of it.'"

The verse cuts off an excuse in advance, and the text of the excuse is transmitted.

I record this as an observation: throughout the sūra the words of the other side are transmitted directly (6/29, 6/109, 6/148) — and here a saying is transmitted that has not yet been said but could be. That is, the excuse is met before it is born.

And a second excuse is counted as well (157): aw taqūlū law annā unzila ʿalayna'l-kitābu la-kunnā ahdā minhum — "had the Book been sent down to us, we would have been better guided than they." The same claim was treated at Fāṭir 35/42; I rely on that treatment.

The non-acceptance of faith that comes at the last moment: treated at al-Zumar 39/54-59, Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/84-85 and Yūnus 10/90-92. I rely on that treatment.

A note, per the method (Method): the expression aw yaʾtiya rabbuka cannot be understood as a bodily coming; the same note had been entered in the index at al-Fajr 89/22. I transmit the positions taken in the classical works of tafsīr (tafwīḍ / taʾwīl), and I do not impose a preference.

"You have nothing to do with those who split up their religion and became factions… Whoever comes with a good deed has ten the like of it; and whoever comes with an evil deed is requited only with its like."

شِيَعًا — the root ش-ي-ع was treated at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/4 (Pharaoh's dividing of his people). And it was recorded there: oppression begins by first breaking a society into pieces.

The difference here must be recorded: in al-Qaṣaṣ the one who divided was the power outside; in al-Anʿām those who divide are themselves — farraqū dīnahum.

The asymmetry must be recorded:

The same asymmetry was treated at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/84 (fa-lahū khayrun minhā / illā mā kānū yaʿmalūn). The two sūras can be compared:

I record this as an observation: the same principle is given once as a quality and once as a number. And in both sūras the requital of the evil deed stays at exact equivalence.

"Say: 'My Lord has guided me to a straight path: to an upright religion, the creed of Abraham, a ḥanīf. And he was not one of those who associate partners.'"

دِينًا قِيَمًا — the root ق-و-م: standing upright, in balance. The root was treated at al-Kahf 18/2 (qayyiman) and at al-Baqara 2/255 (al-Qayyūm).

حَنِيفًا — the root ح-ن-ف: to incline in one direction, to turn away from crookedness. The root was treated at al-Rūm 30/30 (ḥanīfan fiṭrata'llāh); I rely on that treatment.

And the verse's place in the sūra is worth recording: verses 74-83 had described Abraham's reasoning. Verse 161 gives the outcome of that reasoning as the name of a way.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the structure of the sūra: the passage that the sūra opened with Abraham looking at the star, the moon and the sun and seeing that all of them set, it binds up at the close by saying "his creed". And in between, the prohibitions and the shares that people invented themselves had been described — that is, what is set against the invented is a way one person found by his own reasoning.

Qul inna ṣalātī wa nusukī wa maḥyāya wa mamātī li'llāhi rabbi'l-ʿālamīn · Lā sharīka lah wa bi-dhālika umirtu wa ana awwalu'l-muslimīn

"Say: 'My prayer, my rite of sacrifice, my living and my dying belong to God, the Lord of all the worlds. He has no partner. This I was commanded, and I am the first of those who submit.'"

Four things are counted, and their order is worth recording:

I record this as my own reading: the list moves from the narrow (prayer) to the wide (life), and from there to what is not in one's hands (death). And all four are bound by a single construct: li'llāhi rabbi'l-ʿālamīn.

The و-ز-ر principle was treated in six places in the index: al-Najm 53/38, al-Zumar 39/7, Fāṭir 35/18, Luqmān 31/33, al-ʿAnkabūt 29/12-13, al-Isrāʾ 17/15. This is the seventh link.

And what al-Anʿām adds must be recorded: a sentence comes before the principle — wa lā taksibu kullu nafsin illā ʿalayhā. That is, that the earning too and the burden too belong to the person is said twice in the same verse.

"It is He who made you successors on the earth, and raised some of you above others in degrees, in order to try you by what He has given you."

خَلَٰٓئِف — treated at Fāṭir 35/39, and it was recorded there: succession is not a privilege but a charge whose outcome belongs to the person. I rely on that treatment.

And the last sentence is worth recording: li-yabluwakum fī mā ātākum — "in order to try you by what He has given you."

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the sūra as a whole: the sūra described the prohibitions people laid down themselves (136-140), the shares they invented themselves and the superiorities they set up themselves. At the close it is said that the difference of degree which really exists is an instrument of trial — that is, the difference is not denied, its function is stated.

And the same structure was treated at al-Kahf 18/7 (innā jaʿalnā mā ʿala'l-arḍi zīnatan lahā li-nabluwahum ayyuhum aḥsanu ʿamalā). The two sūras set up the same sentence: what is given is an instrument of trial.