قُلْ مَا يَكُونُ لِىٓ أَنْ أُبَدِّلَهُۥ مِن تِلْقَآئِ نَفْسِىٓ إِنْ أَتَّبِعُ إِلَّا مَا يُوحَىٰٓ إِلَىَّ
Wa idhā tutlā ʿalayhim āyātunā bayyinātin qāla'lladhīna lā yarjūna liqāʾana'ti bi-qurʾānin ghayri hādhā aw baddilh, qul mā yakūnu lī an ubaddilahū min tilqāʾi nafsī, in attabiʿu illā mā yūḥā ilayy, innī akhāfu in ʿaṣaytu rabbī ʿadhāba yawmin ʿaẓīm
"When Our signs are recited to them as clear proofs, those who do not look for the meeting with Us say: 'Bring a Qurʾān other than this, or change it.' Say: 'It is not for me to change it of my own accord. I follow only what is revealed to me. If I disobey my Lord I fear the punishment of a mighty day.'"
| Demand | What is asked |
|---|---|
| I'ti bi-qurʾānin ghayri hādhā | Another text — in place of this one |
| Aw baddilh | The altering of this one — let the text stand, let its content change |
I record this as an observation: the second demand is heavier than the first, because it aims not at the source of the text but at authority over it. The first says "bring something else"; the second carries the assumption "you can dispose of this as you wish".
And the first word of the answer meets exactly this: mā yakūnu lī — "it is not a thing that is for me", that is, "this is not within my authority".
This sentence occurred word for word at al-Aḥqāf 46/9 and was treated there. I rely on that treatment. The frame recorded there was this: it comes after the sentence mā kuntu bidʿan mina'r-rusul (I am no innovation among the messengers) and states that the knowledge is not from himself.
| Place | What precedes the sentence | What it limits |
|---|---|---|
| al-Aḥqāf 46/9 | Mā adrī mā yufʿalu bī wa lā bikum — a limit of knowledge | Knowing |
| Yūnus 10/15 | Mā yakūnu lī an ubaddilah — a limit of authority | Changing |
What is limited in al-Aḥqāf is knowledge, in Yūnus authority. I record this as an observation: the same sentence is used as the ground of two distinct limits.
And the pattern of the sentence is worth recording: in attabiʿu illā mā yūḥā ilayy — the pattern of restriction (qaṣr). In here is the negative particle, and illā brings the exception. It is not, that is, "I follow this and that as well": the one thing followed is stated.
| Verse | Expression | Form |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | In attabiʿu illā mā yūḥā ilayy | A statement — the Prophet's own declaration |
| 109 | Wa'ttabiʿ mā yūḥā ilayk | A command — the text's last word |
The same construct, one as a first-person statement, the other as a second-person command. And the sūra closes by commanding in the hundred and ninth verse what was said in the fifteenth. This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra, and I record it as my own reading.
| Verse | Expression | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Aw baddilh | The other side, making the demand |
| 15 | Mā yakūnu lī an ubaddilahū | The Prophet's refusal |
| 64 | Lā tabdīla li-kalimāti'llāh | A ruling |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the repetition of the root: the changing asked for in the fifteenth verse is declared impossible in the sixty-fourth. The sūra, that is, answers the demand first with a lack of authority (15), then with an impossibility (64). The two answers are on distinct planes: the one concerns the person, the other the word.
I record this as an observation, and it links back to the second verse: there the ground of the objection was that the messenger was familiar (rajulin minhum). Here that same familiarity is given back as a proof. The same fact serves in the one place as material for the objection and in the other as material for the answer.
فَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ ٱفْتَرَىٰ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا (17) — and the word iftirāʾ begins here as one of the key words of the sūra.
The root ف-ر-ي: to cut and shape a thing, to split it; to cut and fashion a hide. And iftirāʾ is explained by the lexicographers from this picture: to invent a word by cutting and shaping it.
The root occurs in seven places in the sūra (17, 30, 37, 38, 59, 60, 69) and this is one of the countable backbones of the sūra. I will give the table in one piece in the closing section.