ذَرْنِى وَمَنْ خَلَقْتُ وَحِيدًا
In al-Muzzammil 73/11 this verb and the مفعول معه (object of accompaniment) pattern were treated: the sense is not "leave me, and leave him too" but "leave me alone with him".
And the eleventh verse of both sūras opens with this pattern. As was recorded there: I draw no conclusion from the coinciding of the verse numbers.
| al-Muzzammil 73/11 | al-Muddaththir 74/11 | |
|---|---|---|
| Object | ٱلْمُكَذِّبِينَ — plural | مَنْ خَلَقْتُ — singular |
| Qualification | ūli'l-naʿma — the people of ease | waḥīdā — alone |
| What follows | Three verses describing punishment | Seven verses describing a person |
al-Muzzammil recounts a group, al-Muddaththir a single person. And al-Muddaththir spends seven verses on describing the person.
Root: و-ح-د. Unity, oneness. Wāḥid, aḥad, waḥda, tawḥīd are from the same root; the difference between aḥad and wāḥid was treated in al-Ikhlāṣ.
وَحِيدًا is on the pattern faʿīl and stands in the sentence as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl). The problem is: whose state is it?
| View | Meaning | Its ground | Its weak side |
|---|---|---|---|
| The state of the one created | "I created him alone" — without property, without children, by himself | The following verses count wealth and sons as given afterwards; that is, at the beginning they were not there | — |
| The state of the Creator | "I created him, I alone" — with no partner | The subject of the verb khalaqtu is the speaker; the circumstantial qualifier may refer to him too | The context enumerates what the person acquired afterwards; the oneness of the Creator is not the subject here |
| A byname of the man | Someone spoken of as "Waḥīd" | It is said in some transmissions that a leading man of Quraysh was referred to in this way | The transmission is weak, and if the verse were giving a byname this would run against the general manner of the Qurʾān |
The first view is the most widespread in the classical sources and appears to fit the context best — because verses 12-14 enumerate exactly what was "given afterwards". I state this as a preference; it is not binding.
And this lays the ground for the four verses that follow. Everything that will be enumerated — wealth, sons, a smoothed path — was not there at the beginning.
The great majority of the exegetical sources transmit verses 11-25 concerning al-Walīd b. al-Mughīra, one of the leading men of Quraysh. According to the report he was asked to give a judgement about the Qurʾān, and after thinking for a while he said, "This is sorcery."
First — attribution. The report is widespread in the books of exegesis; but its details differ in different lines of transmission, and the state of its chain varies from one line to another. I issue no definite ruling on its soundness and attribute it to no particular source.
Second — the text gives no name. The sūra recounts this person over fifteen verses and does not mention his name even once. The same finding was made in ʿAbasa: "the sūra itself gives no name at all." And the note added there holds here as well: the possibility that the names are answers supplied afterwards must not be lost sight of.
Third — and most important of all: the withholding of the name is part of how the verse works. As recorded in the method (Method): what the verse describes are attributes; whoever carries that attribute is included in it. The text does not condemn a person; it describes a sequence of behaviour. And that the sequence is — as will be seen in verses 18-25 — too general to be confined to any one person is plain from the sūra's own language.