يَوْمَ يَأْتِ لَا تَكَلَّمُ نَفْسٌ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِۦ فَمِنْهُمْ شَقِىٌّ وَسَعِيدٌ
"On the day it comes no soul will speak except by His leave. Among them some are wretched and some are happy."
The root ش-ق-و: to suffer hardship, to grow weary, to be wretched. The root was treated at Ṭāhā 20/2 (mā anzalnā ʿalayka'l-qurʾāna li-tashqā) and 20/117 (fa-tashqā); I rely on that treatment.
The two words are set facing one another in this verse of the Qurʾān, and the sūra gives them first as nouns (shaqiyyun wa saʿīd), then repeats them in the next two verses as verbs (alladhīna shaqū / alladhīna suʿidū).
Zafīr (ز-ف-ر) and shahīq (ش-ه-ق): the lexicographers explain the two as the breath going out and the breath being drawn in; the description used for the braying of a donkey is given with these same two words.
I pass this on as the lexicographers give it, and I record this as my own reading: the verse describes not a speech but a sound — and this stands beside the qualification in the preceding verse, lā takallamu nafsun illā bi-idhnih (none speaks without leave). Speech has been taken away, and breath is left.
Shahīq's root was treated at al-Mulk 67/7 (samiʿū lahā shahīqan wa hiya tafūr); there the sound belongs to the Fire, here to those inside it.
This construction occurs in the Qurʾān only here — and twice, at 107 and at 108. And it is one of the places where the exegetes differ most. The disagreement is not concealed:
| Question | Views |
|---|---|
| mā dāmati'l-samāwātu wa'l-arḍ | (a) The Arabs' idiom "as long as the heavens and the earth endure" — an expression of continuance; (b) the heavens and earth of the hereafter itself are meant (at Ibrāhīm 14/48 yawma tubaddalu'l-arḍu ghayra'l-arḍ was treated) |
| illā mā shāʾa rabbuk | (a) The exception is not a real one; it reports that the power is unrestricted — "had He willed, He could have done otherwise"; (b) the exception concerns those who will enter the Fire and come out; (c) the exception concerns the waiting periods before entry into the Fire |
| The difference between the two verses | At 107 the sentence ends with inna rabbaka faʿʿālun limā yurīd, at 108 with ʿaṭāʾan ghayra majdhūdh — the second closing states unbrokenness outright |
But that the closings of the two verses differ is a datum that can be verified from the text, and I record it:
| Verse | The sentence after the exception |
|---|---|
| 107 (the Fire) | inna rabbaka faʿʿālun limā yurīd — who does what He wills |
| 108 (the Garden) | ʿaṭāʾan ghayra majdhūdh — a gift without a break |
Majdhūdh (ج-ذ-ذ): cut, broken off. The root was treated at al-Anbiyāʾ 21/58 (fa-jaʿalahum judhādhan). ghayra majdhūdh — not cut off.
I record this as my own reading, and it is not binding: the same exception is placed in both, but only in the second is unbrokenness stated in addition. The asymmetry is in the wording; its interpretation is disputed among the exegetes.