al-Mursalāt 77:43-44

Kulū wa'shrabū hanīʾan bimā kuntum taʿmalūn · Innā kadhālika najzi'l-muḥsinīn

"Eat and drink with relish, for what you used to do · Thus indeed do We reward those who do good."

In verse 30 the sūra used the imperative: inṭaliqū — and that command was not a real invitation.

Here there is the imperative again: kulū wa'shrabū. And this time it is real.

The difference between the two commands lies not in the mood itself but in what follows:

The sūra uses the same mood twice, with two opposite functions. And it will use it a third time in verse 46 — where it will again be a threat.

This shows that the mood itself carries no meaning: what an imperative is is determined by the words beside it.

Root: ه-ن-أ. Hanaʾa — it was pleasant, easy and harmless. هَنِيء — pleasant to eat, leaving no trouble behind.

The lexicographers' description is decisive: hanīʾ does not merely mean "tasty". It means easy to digest, leaving no discomfort behind.

It occurs once more in the Qurʾān, as part of a pair:

"If they of their own accord remit to you a part of it, then consume it with relish and ease." (al-Nisāʾ 4/4) — fa-kulūhu hanīʾan marīʾā.

There hanīʾ comes together with marīʾ, which also conveys ease of digestion.

The nicety in the choice of word: every favour in this world has a price, an aftermath, a reckoning. Hanīʾ announces that this is not so — a pleasantness with nothing behind it.

This is meaningful when the sūra is looked at as a whole: from beginning to end the sūra speaks of the reckoning. And one of the first words used in the tableau of the godwary is the word that announces what has no reckoning.

I record this as my own reading.

And here there is a question classical exegesis has long debated.

The particle بِ does more than one work in Arabic. Two of them have been debated here:

This question has been debated in the literature of theology as well, and the source of the debate is the apparent tension between the verse and a well-known report meaning "no one enters the Garden by his deed". I do not cite the source of the report here, because I cannot give it with certainty.

The solutions put forward in the classical sources:

All three solutions have been defended in the classical sources. I impose no preference and I frame no legal or theological ruling.

But this should be recorded: the wording of the verse does mention the deed, and does not stop at mentioning it — the next verse gives the rule of the reward as well.

كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ — the pattern of continuity. As recorded above at verse 29, this pattern occurs twice in the sūra:

• Kuntum bihī tukadhdhibūn (29) — you kept denying.
• Kuntum taʿmalūn (43) — you kept doing.

The same pattern, in two tableaux. And the contrast is in the wording itself: in one what is sustained is a refusal, in the other a work.

I record this symmetry as my own reading.

The same sentence within the Qurʾān:

"Eat and drink with relish, for what you used to do." (al-Ṭūr 52/19) — exactly the same expression. "Eat and drink with relish, for what you sent ahead in the days gone by." (al-Ḥāqqa 69/24) — bimā aslaftum fi'l-ayyāmi'l-khāliya.

The difference in al-Ḥāqqa is striking: there the verb is aslafa — to send ahead. The deed is named as something sent on in advance.

And here there is a symmetry with verse 18.

The two sentences are on the same pattern and are the rule-sentences of the sūra's two tableaux.

In one mujrimīn, in the other muḥsinīn — both attributes, both definite (al-), both plural, not both in the same metre but both in the same position.

And the difference between the two verbs should be recorded:

• نَفْعَلُ (18) — "we do". A general, neutral verb. What is done is not said.
• نَجْزِى (44) — "we reward". Root ج-ز-ي: to give the equivalent of a thing, to pay its counterpart.

That is, to the guilty something "is done", to those who do good "a recompense is given". The second verb conveys an equivalence, the first does not.

I record this as my own reading.

ٱلْمُحْسِنِين — root: ح-س-ن. Ḥusn — beauty, goodness. إِحْسَان — to do a work well; and to do good without return.

The word has two aspects and both are at work in the Qurʾān:

• The quality of the work: to do a thing completely, well.
• Goodness to another: to give more than is deserved.

And an observation: in this tableau the sūra does not name those addressed muʾminīn. It says muḥsinīn — that is, not by the name of a belief but by the name of a work.

This is symmetrical with the addressee of the refrain: mukadhdhibīn too is the name of a work (denying). The sūra names both sides by what they do.

I record this as an observation.