al-Jinn 72:21

Qul innī lā amliku lakum ḍarran wa lā rashadā

"Say: I have no power over any harm to you, nor over any right judgement."

Root م-ل-ك: to own, to hold in hand, to be able to dispose. Mulk, malik, mālik are from the same root. In the section on al-Fātiḥa the distinction of mālik / malik was taken up.

The verb's sense here is wider than "to own": to be in a position to dispose over something. What we mean in English when we say "it is not in my hands."

That is, the sentence does not say "I do not do it"; it says "I am not in a position to do it." Not a choice but a statement of capacity.

Brought forward. In Arabic an element pulled forward from its normal place gains emphasis — this was taken up in the discussion of the fronting of lahu at al-Ikhlāṣ 112/4.

Here the fronting does this: the addressee is directly targeted. Not "I have no power over anything" but "I have no power over anything for you". It is said to the crowd, to those thronging, to those waiting.

This is the most striking place in the sentence.

The expected form of this pattern in Arabic is: "neither harm nor benefit" — ḍarran wa lā nafʿan. The Qurʾān uses this pair elsewhere:

• "Say: I have no power to bring benefit or harm even to myself, except as God wills" (al-Aʿrāf 7/188).
• "Say: I have no power to bring harm or benefit to myself" (Yūnus 10/49).

In this verse the second term has changed: in place of nafʿ (benefit) has come رَشَدًا (rushd).

Why?

Because the subject of the sūra is not benefit and harm but finding the right way. The word rushd has been at work throughout the sūra:

• 2: the Qurʾān guides to rushd.
• 10: did their Lord intend rushd for them?
• 14: those who submitted sought out and found rushd.
• 21: I cannot give you rushd.

In the fourth and last occurrence the word is attached to a negation. Throughout the sūra it was related where rushd comes from; now it is said where it does not come from: not from the messenger.

This is one of the sharpest rulings of the sūra. For the messenger is the one who brings rushd. But bringing and giving are not the same thing. The messenger carries the text; what the text will do in a person is not in his hands.

This distinction is set up many times in the Qurʾān and was treated in the sections on al-Aʿlā and al-Ghāshiya: the difference of form between the command dhakkir (remind) and the verb yadhdhakkaru (he remembers) drew the limit of responsibility in the grammar. Al-Ghāshiya 88/22: "You are not a tyrant over them." The same limit is drawn here with a different word.

And note the order: first harm, then rushd. That is, not in the order "I can do you neither evil nor good"; but in the order "I can give neither punishment nor guidance." These are the two things an addressee might expect of a messenger: a frightening power and a saving capacity. Both are refused.