al-Ḍuḥā 93:11

Wa ammā bi-niʿmati Rabbika fa-ḥaddith "And as for the favour of your Lord, speak of it."

The first two commands were prohibitions: lā taqhar, lā tanhar. The third is an imperative: ḥaddith.

And the word order changes too: in the first two, the element brought to the front was the object of the verb (al-yatīma, al-sāʾila, both in the accusative); here what is brought to the front is a prepositional phrase (bi-niʿmati Rabbika).

That is, after two "do nots" the sūra closes with a "do". And unlike the first two, the last command turns not to the addressee himself but to the source.

Root: ح-د-ث. Its original sense is to be new, to come to be afterwards.

The derivatives confirm this:

• حَادِث (ḥādith) — what comes to be afterwards, what newly appears. In the terminology of theology it is the opposite of qadīm (that which has no beginning): ḥādith means what was non-existent before it existed.
• حَدَث (ḥadath) — an event that occurs.
• حَدِيث (ḥadīth) — both "new" and "speech, report". The Qurʾān uses it of itself as well: "Then in what speech after this will they believe?" (al-Mursalāt 77/50).

The link between the two ends of the root matters: giving news and being new are expressed by the same word. Because news is what is new for the one addressed. To tell a thing is to bring it into being again in the listener.

A point about the form: the verb is in Form II (ḥaddatha). This form states repetition and continuity. That is, ḥaddith is not "say it once"; it is keep on telling.

The verse could have said qul (say). It did not.

Not niʿmata Rabbika fa-ḥaddith, but bi-niʿmati Rabbika fa-ḥaddith. A bāʾ has come in between.

In the classical grammatical analyses two explanations are given for this bāʾ: either it is a connecting particle that lets the verb reach its object (ṣila), or it carries the sense of "about". In the second case the sentence means "speak about the favour of your Lord".

The difference is small, but the second reading widens the subject of the telling: not merely counting the favour itself, but speaking upon the favour.

Root: ن-ع-م. The concrete sense of the root is softness, smoothness. Nāʿim is what is soft to the touch.

Derivatives:

• نَعِيم (naʿīm) — abundance, ease. It is used of the Garden.
• أَنْعَام (anʿām) — livestock, herd animals. It occurs as the name of a sūra as well. The naming comes from their being the source of wealth and ease in that society.
• نَعَم (naʿam) — "yes". The word of acceptance and affirmation.

That is, a favour is what softens a life. What takes the hardness away, what removes the roughness. This concrete sense stands underneath the abstract use of the word in English — "blessing", "favour" — and makes it more intelligible: a favour is not a possession but an easing.

The verse does not say "speak of your favour". It says "the favour of your Lord".

This construct is what separates the command from boasting, and it balances the whole of the command.

A person's telling of what he possesses can be two different jobs: counting what he has in hand, or saying from whom he received it. The first turns back to himself, the second to the source. The verse commands the second, and it places the qualification not on the verb but on the object: what is to be told is not your achievement but what was given to you.

If this qualification is lifted, the command turns into its exact opposite. This is why the construct is not incidental but the condition of the command.

The word used in the Qurʾān for ingratitude comes from the root kufr, and the original sense of that root is to cover (a farmer's being called kāfir comes from his covering the seed with earth).

The picture that comes out of this sits properly: to speak of a favour is to uncover; ingratitude is to cover. The verse sets telling opposite covering.

And the Qurʾān sets up a link between telling and increase: "If you give thanks, I shall surely increase you; and if you are ungrateful, My punishment is severe" (Ibrāhīm 14/7).

In the tradition thanksgiving is treated at three levels, and this classification is widespread: with the heart (knowing from whom the favour comes), with the tongue (telling of it), with the limbs (using the favour in its right place). This verse commands the second; verses 9 and 10 are an example of the third.

This was touched on above; it can be completed here.

In the three verses from the sixth to the eighth, God counted the favours. In the eleventh verse He asks the same work of the servant.

That is, the sūra first performs the act it commands. The text gives an example, then says "you do the same". Form and content turn into one another here.

At the beginning of the sūra there was a claim: "his Lord has forsaken him".

The third verse rejected it directly. But the sūra does not end there, and the last verse contains the real answer given to the claim: tell of it.

The reason is this: silence is what makes room for the claim. The words "he has been forsaken" hold only if there is an unspoken emptiness standing there. Telling closes that emptiness.

The last command, then, is not merely an instruction in thanksgiving; it is the closing of the matter the sūra opened. The telling of the favour is the becoming visible of the not having been forsaken.