al-Aʿrāf 7:167-171

Wa idh taʾadhdhana rabbuka la-yabʿathanna ʿalayhim ilā yawmi'l-qiyāmati man yasūmuhum sūʾa'l-ʿadhāb, inna rabbaka la-sarīʿu'l-ʿiqāb wa innahū la-ghafūrun raḥīm · Wa qaṭṭaʿnāhum fi'l-arḍi umamā, minhumu'ṣ-ṣāliḥūna wa minhum dūna dhālik, wa balawnāhum bi'l-ḥasanāti wa's-sayyiʾāti laʿallahum yarjiʿūn

"Remember when your Lord announced that He would surely send against them, until the Day of Resurrection, those who would inflict on them the worst of punishment. Your Lord is swift in retribution; and He is forgiving and merciful. · We divided them into communities on the earth. Among them are the righteous, and among them are others than that. We tested them with good things and with ill, that they might return."

This verse has throughout history been made the ground for a great many political and social claims. No such use is made of it in this commentary, and I write that plainly (Method).

The text itself enters a note of division, and that note of division is the verse's own sentence:

Minhumu'ṣ-ṣāliḥūna wa minhum dūna dhālik — "among them are the righteous, and among them are others than that."

That is, the verse itself does not allow a blanket judgement to be built about a community. And this note lies on the same line as the note in the hundred and fifty-ninth verse (wa min qawmi Mūsā ummatun yahdūna bi'l-ḥaqq).

Within the sūra this note of division occurs three times, and it is a countable datum:

I record this as an observation, and its ground is the particles of the three verses (min, minhum). The sūra divides three times within the same block.

The root أ-ذ-ن: ear; and from this, to hear, to give leave, to proclaim. Form V (taʾadhdhana) here has the sense of a decisive announcement: "to proclaim something upon oneself".

And the verb had occurred once more in the sūra, in the forty-fourth verse: fa-adhdhana muʾadhdhinun baynahum. The same root, one a proclamation in the scene of the hereafter, the other an announcement here.

The end of the verse must be recorded, and this is a point of word order:

Inna rabbaka la-sarīʿu'l-ʿiqāb wa innahū la-ghafūrun raḥīm

Two statements side by side, and in opposite directions.

And the difference in the construction of the two sentences must be recorded:

The second attribute is given not by being coordinated with the first but in a self-standing sentence. I record this as an observation about word order, and its ground is the presence of the second inna.

The sūra builds the two-directional test in three separate places. This is a countable datum:

In all three the same structure: good and ill together are counted as a test. And in all three the purpose of the test is stated with the same kind of verb: laʿallahum yadhdhakkarūn (130), laʿallahum yarjiʿūn (168).

I record this as an observation, and its ground is the words of the three verses.

Fa-khalafa min baʿdihim khalfun warithu'l-kitāba yaʾkhudhūna ʿaraḍa hādha'l-adnā wa yaqūlūna sa-yughfaru lanā, wa in yaʾtihim ʿaraḍun mithluhū yaʾkhudhūh, a-lam yuʾkhadh ʿalayhim mīthāqu'l-kitābi an lā yaqūlū ʿala'llāhi illa'l-ḥaqqa wa darasū mā fīh "After them came a generation who inherited the Book. They take the goods of this lower world and say, 'We shall be forgiven.' And if the like of those goods comes to them again, they take it too. Was the covenant of the Book not taken from them, that they should say nothing about God but the truth? And they had studied what is in it."

This verse is the place that prepares the passage into the eighth block of the sūra, and it carries three things to be recorded.

One — the word khalf. The root خ-ل-ف: to come behind. The lexicographers record a distinction between khalf (with fatḥa) and khalaf: khalaf is generally used of a good successor, khalf of a bad one. This distinction is not certain and does not hold everywhere; I convey it as transmitted.

And the same root had occurred twice more in the sūra: jaʿalakum khulafāʾa (69, 74) — there in a positive sense. The same root, two different directions.

Two — ʿaraḍa hādha'l-adnā.

The root ع-ر-ض: breadth; and from this, what comes past from one side. ʿAraḍ is what does not last, what is passing. And the lexicographers use the word as the opposite of jawhar (what abides).

The root أ-د-ن-و: nearness; and from this, lowness, baseness. Adnā means both "nearest" and "lowest"; and the word dunyā is from the same root.

That is, the phrase states transience twice over: ʿaraḍ (what passes by) and adnā (what is near, what stays low).

I give this as a note about the words, and its ground is the concrete senses of the two roots.

Three — the sentence sa-yughfaru lanā.

A point of word order must be recorded: the verb is passive and in the future. It is not said who will forgive; forgiveness is voiced as an expectation.

And the verse sets beside this expectation a note of persistence: wa in yaʾtihim ʿaraḍun mithluhū yaʾkhudhūh — "if it comes again they take it again".

I record this as my own reading and it is not binding; its ground is the two sentences standing side by side: the verse names in the same place the expectation of forgiveness and the continuation of the behaviour. And then a question comes: a-lam yuʾkhadh ʿalayhim mīthāqu'l-kitāb.

And this question is the door of the eighth block of the sūra: in the hundred and seventy-second verse a far older covenant will be told.

And the verb darasū must be recorded: the root د-ر-س — to read a text over and over and to work on it; and for a trace to be effaced and vanish. The root has two branches, and both are transmitted.

I record this as an observation: the verse does not leave ignorance as a ground — it says wa darasū mā fīh. The knowledge was there.

Wa'lladhīna yumassikūna bi'l-kitābi wa aqāmu'ṣ-ṣalāta innā lā nuḍīʿu ajra'l-muṣliḥīn · Wa idh nataqna'l-jabala fawqahum ka-annahū ẓullatun wa ẓannū annahū wāqiʿun bihim, khudhū mā ātaynākum bi-quwwatin wa'dhkurū mā fīhi laʿallakum tattaqūn

The hundred and seventieth verse is set against the hundred and sixty-ninth, and the contrast is in the verb:

The root م-س-ك: to hold, to keep in hand. Form II (tamassuk) here states a firm grip; and a variant reading is transmitted: yumsikūna (Form IV). The difference in sense is slight.

I record this as an observation about word order: the two verses use two verbs from the same field, and their objects differ.

The root ن-ت-ق: to pull a thing from its place and lift it with a shaking. The lexicographers tie the word to the picture of a sack being shaken out.

ظُلَّة — the root ظ-ل-ل: what gives shade, a canopy.

And this scene was treated at 2/63 in al-Baqara, and I rely on that treatment. What belongs here is what al-Aʿrāf adds, and this is a difference that can be verified from the two texts:

Al-Aʿrāf widens the scene in respect of image and of response. I record this as an observation.

And the command is the same: khudhū mā ātaynākum bi-quwwatin. These are the same words as the command spoken to Moses in the hundred and forty-fifth verse.

The same command, two different addressees. And the Moses block closes with this command. In the section on the structure of the sūra, laʿallakum tattaqūn was recorded as the block's closing sentence.