al-Nāziʿāt 79:15-16

Hal atāka ḥadīthu Mūsā · Idh nādāhu rabbuhu bi'l-wādi'l-muqaddasi ṭuwā "Has the account of Moses (Mūsā) come to you? When his Lord called to him in the holy valley, Ṭuwā."

In the fourteenth verse the scene ended. In the fifteenth verse, with no connecting particle at all, a narrative begins.

And why the narrative is here will not be said until the twenty-sixth verse: "Surely in that there is a lesson for whoever feels awe."

That is, the sūra first narrates and then states its ground. This is an arrangement often seen in the Qurʾān's use of narrative.

The function of the narrative in the context is this — and I record it as a reading I draw from the structure of the sūra:

In verses ten to twelve there was an objection: "are we to be brought back?" And in verses thirteen and fourteen an answer was given.

But the answer was theoretical. The narrative makes the same matter historical: there was once someone who made this objection at the top of his voice, and what happened to him is a known thing.

That is, the narrative is not a proof; it is an example. And the sūra will say this in the twenty-sixth verse with the word ʿibra (lesson).

هَلْ — an interrogative particle. أَتَىٰ — it came, it reached.

The kind of question. This is not a question for information. It is not assumed that the Prophet does not know the narrative of Moses; the narrative is told many times in the Qurʾān.

The explanations the rhetoricians give for this pattern:

None of the three excludes the others.

The pattern occurs in several other places in the Qurʾān and always does the same work:

"Has the account of the Overwhelming come to you?" (al-Ghāshiya 88/1)

"Has the account of the hosts come to you?" (al-Burūj 85/17)

"Has the account of Abraham's honoured guests come to you?" (al-Dhāriyāt 51/24)

In all of them the pattern stands at the head of a narration.

Root: ح-د-ث. And the original sense of the root is to be new, to come into being afterwards.

• حَادِث — that which comes into being afterwards, that which is new. In the literature of theology ḥādith (that which came into being) is the opposite of qadīm (that which has no beginning).
• أَحْدَثَ — he brought forth something new. The notions بِدْعَة / مُحْدَث come from here.
• حَدِيث — speech, narration, news. The thing newly heard.

That is, in Arabic "news" and "new" are the same word. The Arabic plural ḥawādith carries the same sense; and that English news is built on new is the same logic in another language.

And now the two neighbouring sūras have to be compared.

In the section on al-Nabaʾ the difference between نَبَأ and خَبَر was treated. What was recorded there was this: nabaʾ is news that carries great benefit and produces conviction; khabar is any piece of information.

Now a third word comes: حَدِيث.

Three words hold three sides of news.

And the choices of the two neighbouring sūras are meaningful:

• al-Nabaʾ 78/2: al-nabaʾu'l-ʿaẓīm — the great tiding. Its subject is the resurrection; its weight is emphasised.
• al-Nāziʿāt 79/15: ḥadīthu Mūsā — the account of Moses. Its subject is a past event; its telling is emphasised.

And there is a subtlety here: the narrative of Moses belongs to thousands of years ago; but the word means "new".

This shows the function of the narrative: an old event becomes new every time it is told. What the narrative carries is not history but a pattern that repeats.

I record this as my own reading. But the sense of the root and the word-choices of the two sūras are in the text.

نَادَىٰ — Root: ن-د-و / ن-د-ي. To call out, to summon — especially from a distance and in a loud voice.

In Arabic nidāʾ is the opposite of a whisper. One does not make nidāʾ to someone nearby.

And the verb will occur twice in this sūra:

The same verb, two agents. One calls to a single person in the silence of the valley; the other calls to a gathered crowd.

I record this as an observation; the repetition of the word is a datum that can be verified.

رَبُّهُۥ — "his Lord". The name Allāh is not used; Rabb is used, and it is annexed to Moses.

As recorded in the section on al-Fātiḥa, Rabb carries ownership together with nurture. That is, the call comes not as a declaration of authority but from within a relationship.

And this word will occur five times in the sūra — all of them at decisive places:

The backbone of the sūra turns around this word: to whom the call was made, to whom the guiding is, who put himself in that place, of whom there is fear, to whom it belongs.

I record this as my own reading. The repetitions of the word, however, are in the text.

مُقَدَّس — Root: ق-د-س. The sense of the root is purity, cleanness. تَقْدِيس — hallowing, sanctifying; in origin purifying.

• ٱلْقُدُّوس — one of the names of God; purified of every deficiency.
• رُوحُ ٱلْقُدُس — occurs at al-Baqara 2/87.
• بَيْتُ ٱلْمَقْدِس — the purified house.

The word's place in this verse needs recording: the valley is not "holy" but "hallowed / purified" — a passive participle. That is, the holiness is not in the valley itself; it is a quality given to it.

And two verses later a word from the same field of meaning will come: تَزَكَّىٰ (to purify oneself). The valley has been purified; purification is offered to Pharaoh. The two words are from different roots (ق-د-س and ز-ك-و) but they circle the same idea.

I record this as an observation; I claim no kinship of root.

The views as to what the word is:

The first view is the most widespread.

The word occurs in one other place in the Qurʾān, in the same scene: "I am your Lord; take off your sandals, for you are in the holy valley, Ṭuwā" (Ṭāhā 20/12).

A note on variant readings. It is transmitted that the word is read with nunation (طُوًى) and without it (طُوَىٰ); the difference arises from whether the word is counted fully declinable. There is no essential change in the meaning. I give no imām's name.