al-Aʿrāf 7:155-157

Wa'khtāra Mūsā qawmahū sabʿīna rajulan li-mīqātinā, fa-lammā akhadhathumu'r-rajfatu qāla rabbi law shiʾta ahlaktahum min qablu wa iyyāya, a-tuhlikunā bimā faʿala's-sufahāʾu minnā, in hiya illā fitnatuk, tuḍillu bihā man tashāʾu wa tahdī man tashāʾ, anta waliyyunā fa'ghfir lanā wa'rḥamnā wa anta khayru'l-ghāfirīn · Wa'ktub lanā fī hādhihi'd-dunyā ḥasanatan wa fi'l-ākhirati innā hudnā ilayk, qāla ʿadhābī uṣību bihī man ashāʾu wa raḥmatī wasiʿat kulla shayʾ

"Moses chose seventy men of his people for the time We appointed. When the quaking seized them he said: 'My Lord! Had You willed, You could have destroyed them before, and me with them. Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done? This is nothing but Your test. By it You lead astray whom You will and guide whom You will. You are our guardian; forgive us and have mercy on us. You are the best of forgivers. · And write for us good in this world and in the hereafter. We have turned to You.' He said: 'My punishment — I visit it upon whom I will; and My mercy has embraced everything.'"

This sentence is a place that must be recorded for the sūra's understanding of responsibility.

And a point of word order must be recorded: the sentence has the qualification minnā ("among us"). That is, the guilty are not cast out; it says "among us".

And the word sufahāʾ had occurred in the sixty-sixth verse — there it was the word of the objection put to Hūd (innā la-narāka fī safāhatin). The same root, two different directions: one an accusation thrown at a messenger, the other a diagnosis accepted for one's own community. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

The sentence is built with the pattern in … illā: the event is reduced to one thing — fitna (a test).

The root ف-ت-ن: to put gold into the fire to learn its purity. This concrete sense of the root was treated at 20/40 in Ṭāhā; I rely on that treatment.

And the continuation of the sentence — tuḍillu bihā man tashāʾu wa tahdī man tashāʾ — opens onto a field of kalām debate. Per the method (Method) I do not enter that debate and take no side.

I record the things that can be verified from the text:

And the note kept consistently in this field throughout the index holds here too: the expression "whom He wills", if read in the sense of arbitrariness, contradicts the Qurʾān's own language — because the same text describes again and again where mercy and guidance are directed. This note was entered in al-Baqara; I rely on it and do not open the discussion here.

The answer in the hundred and fifty-sixth verse is two sentences, and there is a difference of word order between them. This difference is read from the text:

I record this as an observation about word order, and its ground is the construction of the two sentences: in the first there is a restriction, in the second there is none.

And the same expression had occurred at 40/7 in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin), in the prayer of those who bear the Throne: rabbanā wasiʿta kulla shayʾin raḥmatan wa ʿilmā. It was recorded there: the order puts mercy before knowledge. I rely on that treatment.

The difference between the two verses must be recorded: in Ghāfir the sentence is a prayer (servants speak it); in al-Aʿrāf it is an answer.

The root ه-و-د: to turn gently, to incline; and to repent. Hudnā ilayk — "we have turned to You".

This root was treated at 2/62 in al-Baqara, where it was recorded: the Qurʾān uses this root in verbal form, and it occurs at al-Aʿrāf 7/156 in the sense of repentance. I rely on that treatment.

And this is a datum to be recorded for the analysis of the word; no ruling about a community is to be drawn from it (Method).

Alladhīna yattabiʿūna'r-rasūla'n-nabiyya'l-ummiyya'lladhī yajidūnahū maktūban ʿindahum fi't-Tawrāti wa'l-Injīli yaʾmuruhum bi'l-maʿrūfi wa yanhāhum ʿani'l-munkari wa yuḥillu lahumu'ṭ-ṭayyibāti wa yuḥarrimu ʿalayhimu'l-khabāʾitha wa yaḍaʿu ʿanhum iṣrahum wa'l-aghlāla'llatī kānat ʿalayhim…

The verse counts a series of attributes, and the structure of the series must be recorded: five verbs, two opposed pairs and one single.

Four verbs in pairs, the fifth alone. This is a structure that can be read from the text.

And two words connect with other places in the sūra. These links are countable:

That is, the hundred and fifty-seventh verse uses together the root of the sūra's name and the words of the two soils in the fifty-eighth verse. This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra, and I record it as an observation.

The root إ-ص-ر: the tie that holds a thing in place, a weight; and from this, a burden. The lexicographers tie the root to the picture of the rope by which a tent is fastened to the ground.

The root غ-ل-ل: the ring or chain put on the neck or the hand. Aghlāl — the plural of ghull.

The root ي-ض-ع: to put down, to lower; and from this, to set a load down on the ground.

And the choice of the verb is worth recording: yaḍaʿu — "he sets down, he puts off". Not to break or to snap; to set down on the ground.

I give this as a note about the word, and its ground is the concrete sense of the root.

And I build no legal ruling from this verse and do not name which burden is meant; the Qurʾān here describes an attribute and goes into no detail (Method).