وَمَكَرُوا مَكْرًا كُبَّارًا
Root م-ك-ر: to try to bring someone to harm by a route he does not notice. The definition given in the classical lexicons: to direct the target towards harm in such a way that he supposes he is being done a kindness.
The word kayd was treated in Sūrat al-Fīl (105/2). The two words are close but not the same; the distinction made in the classical sources can be summarised thus:
| Word | Its emphasis |
|---|---|
| kayd | Setting up a contrivance the other party cannot see; the secrecy of the plan |
| makr | Steering the other party without his noticing; the stealth of the method |
| ḥīla | Getting round a difficulty by an indirect route; it is not always negative |
In the Qurʾān makr is ascribed both to human beings and — as a response — to God: "They laid a snare, and God laid a snare; and God is the best of those who lay snares" (Āl ʿImrān 3/54). This usage is the same principle treated in the analysis of kayd in Sūrat al-Fīl: the Qurʾān makes the subject of discussion not the plan itself but in whose hand the plan will end.
The Qurʾān's sharpest sentence on this matter is: "An evil snare closes only on its own author" (Fāṭir 35/43).
Root ك-ب-ر. But the pattern is out of the ordinary: fuʿʿāl (كُبَّار). This pattern conveys extreme intensification in Arabic and is rare. A gradation of the form kabīr (great) — kubār (very great) — kubbār (excessively great) is given in the classical sources on language.
The word occurs in the Qurʾān only here. That is, the Qurʾān has used the highest-degree form it has for saying "great" once, and that once is here.
It is transmitted that in some variant readings the word is read without the doubling — kubāran. This difference has no consequence beyond a lightening of the sense; intensification is present on both readings. I do not give the names of particular imāms of the readings, because I am not certain of them.
And again a cognate accusative: makarū makran. One of the sūra's five cognate accusatives, and the only one with an adjective. That is, two reinforcements are laid one on the other here: the repetition of the verbal noun + the pattern of excess.
This is a work the word order does: verse 22 gives a verdict ("they laid a great snare"), verse 23 opens its content ("they said: do not leave your gods"). The relation between them is the structure called in rhetoric summary then detail (ijmāl–tafṣīl): first the collective verdict, then the particulars.
This structure, by giving the verdict before the detail, makes the reader read the detail with a particular eye. What will be described in verse 23 — a slogan — might not have looked like a "snare" on its own. Verse 22 names it in advance.