يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ قَدْ جَآءَتْكُم مَّوْعِظَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَشِفَآءٌ لِّمَا فِى ٱلصُّدُورِ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةٌ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ · قُلْ بِفَضْلِ ٱللَّهِ وَبِرَحْمَتِهِۦ فَبِذَٰلِكَ فَلْيَفْرَحُوا۟ هُوَ خَيْرٌ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ
"O people! There has come to you an admonition from your Lord, a healing for what is in the breasts, a guidance and a mercy for those who believe. · Say: 'In the bounty of God and in His mercy — in that let them rejoice. That is better than what they gather.'"
| Word | Root | Core sense | To whom |
|---|---|---|---|
| مَوْعِظَة | و-ع-ظ | A word that softens the heart and recalls the end | Lakum — to everyone |
| شِفَآء | ش-ف-ي | Healing, the removal of a sickness | Limā fi'ṣ-ṣudūr — for what is in the breasts |
| هُدًى | ه-د-ي | Guidance | Li'l-muʾminīn |
| رَحْمَة | ر-ح-م | Mercy, sparing | Li'l-muʾminīn |
And there is an order in the word order, which I record: the first two words come unqualified (jāʾatkum — it has come to you), the last two qualified (li'l-muʾminīn).
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the position of the qualification li'l-muʾminīn: the admonition and the healing are open to all people; the guidance and the mercy are for those who believe. The door of the text, that is, is for everyone; its outcome is for the one who answers.
And this was treated in exactly these terms at Fuṣṣilat 41/44: huwa li'lladhīna āmanū hudan wa shifāʾ — and it was recorded there: "the same text: for the one a way and a healing, for the other a weight and a blindness. The text does not change; the place that receives it changes." I rely on that treatment.
| Fuṣṣilat 41/44 | Yūnus 10/57 | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of words | Two: hudan wa shifāʾ | Four: mawʿiẓa, shifāʾ, hudā, raḥma |
| The other side | Fī ādhānihim waqrun wa huwa ʿalayhim ʿamā — named openly | Not named — the only qualification is li'l-muʾminīn |
| Order | Guidance → healing | Admonition → healing → guidance → mercy |
And the difference of order is worth recording: in Fuṣṣilat guidance comes first and healing after; in Yūnus healing first and guidance after. I give this as my own reading and it is not binding: the sequence in Yūnus is a sequence of treatment — first the reminder, then the recovery, then the walking.
And the indirectness of the expression must be recorded: it does not say "a healing for hearts"; it says "a healing for what is in the breasts".
I record this as my own reading: what is treated is not the organ but the content — the thing that is in the breast. And the Qurʾān names elsewhere the things that are in the breast: ghill (rancour), ḥasad (envy), ḍīq (constriction), waswasa (whispering). The verse gathers them all into a single unspecified expression.
In al-ʿĀdiyāt this verse was named on the occasion of mā fi'ṣ-ṣudūr; I rely on that treatment.
The root ف-ر-ح was treated at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/75 (the difference between faraḥ and maraḥ) and was named again at al-Raʿd 13/26. I rely on that treatment.
What belongs here is this, and it must be recorded: rejoicing occurs twice in the sūra, and its objects differ:
| Verse | What is rejoiced in |
|---|---|
| 22 | Wa fariḥū bihā — in the fair wind (those on the ship) |
| 58 | Fa-bi-dhālika fa'l-yafraḥū — in God's bounty and mercy |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the repetition of the root: in the twenty-second verse the rejoicing was cut short at once by the storm. In the fifty-eighth the same verb is put in the imperative and tied to another object. The sūra does not forbid rejoicing — it changes its place.
And the word order must be recorded: bi-dhālika is brought forward and repeated with a fāʾ (bi-faḍli'llāhi wa bi-raḥmatihī fa-bi-dhālika fa'l-yafraḥū). The grammarians explain this repetition as emphasis: the specifying of the thing to be rejoiced in.
هُوَ خَيْرٌ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ — the comparison is made with what they gather. The root ج-م-ع is the verb of amassing. The question of amassing was treated in al-Humaza and al-Takāthur; I rely on that treatment.