فَقَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِن قَوْمِهِۦ مَا نَرَىٰكَ إِلَّا بَشَرًا مِّثْلَنَا وَمَا نَرَىٰكَ ٱتَّبَعَكَ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ أَرَاذِلُنَا بَادِىَ ٱلرَّأْىِ وَمَا نَرَىٰ لَكُمْ عَلَيْنَا مِن فَضْلٍۭ بَلْ نَظُنُّكُمْ كَٰذِبِينَ
fa-qāla'l-malaʾu'lladhīna kafarū min qawmihī mā narāka illā basharan mithlanā wa mā narāka'ttabaʿaka illā'lladhīna hum arādhilunā bādiya'l-raʾyi wa mā narā lakum ʿalaynā min faḍl, bal naẓunnukum kādhibīn
"The leading men of his people who disbelieved said: 'We see you as nothing but a human being like ourselves. Nor do we see any following you but the lowest among us, [and that] at first glance. Nor do we see in you any superiority over us. On the contrary, we think you are liars.'"
The word order of the verse must be recorded, and it is a datum of the text: the same verb (narā — we see) three times, and all three negated.
| # | Expression | The subject of the objection |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | mā narāka illā basharan mithlanā | The messenger himself — his kind |
| 2 | mā narāka'ttabaʿaka illā'lladhīna hum arādhilunā | Those who follow him — their standing |
| 3 | mā narā lakum ʿalaynā min faḍl | Superiority as a whole — the entire group |
And the verb the three share is raʾā: "to see". The whole of the objection, that is, rests on a claim about seeing — not on a proof but on an observation.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the threefold repetition of the verb: the people bring no counter-proof; they make what they see the measure. And in the twenty-eighth verse Noah's answer will land exactly here: fa-ʿummiyat ʿalaykum — "it was hidden from you". The answer, that is, recalls the existence of something that cannot be seen.
The root م-ل-أ: to fill. Malaʾ — those who fill an assembly; the leading men. The word has been treated in many places across this series (al-Naml, al-Muʾminūn, Ṣād).
And what must be recorded is this: the one making the objection is the malaʾ, not the whole of the people. And the subject of the objection is a question of standing — which is consistent with who is speaking.
This objection recurs again and again in the Qurʾān and has been treated across this series (al-Muʾminūn 23/24, 23/33; Yāsīn 36/15; Ibrāhīm 14/10; al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/154, 26/186). I do not repeat it here.
What belongs here is that the objection comes first. In al-Shuʿarāʾ the only objection of Noah's people was the matter of the lowest sort; in Hūd that objection stands not third but second, and "you are a human being like us" has been placed in front of it.
This expression was treated at al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/111 (wa'ttabaʿaka'l-ardhalūn), and I rely on that treatment. In summary, the entries there were these:
The root ر-ذ-ل: what is worthless, low, of no use in a thing. Ardhal — an elative: the lowest, the most worthless. The Qurʾān uses the same word for the most decrepit stage of life as well: ardhali'l-ʿumur (al-Naḥl 16/70; al-Ḥajj 22/5). And that the word has a social sense is clear from the telling of the same episode at Hūd 11/27: wa mā narāka'ttabaʿaka illā'lladhīna hum arādhilunā bādiya'l-raʾy — "none has followed you but the lowest among us, [and that] at first glance". The objection, that is, looks at economic and social standing. It is of the same family as the objection recorded at al-Zukhruf 43/31: law lā nuzzila hādhā'l-qurʾānu ʿalā rajulin mina'l-qaryatayni ʿaẓīm.
The al-Shuʿarāʾ section had already cited this expression of Hūd's. Now the second half of the expression needs working out: bādiya'l-raʾy.
The root ب-د-و: to appear, to come into view. The root was treated in al-Ḥajj, al-Nūr, al-Aḥzāb and al-Mumtaḥana. Bādī — what appears, what is out in the open.
| Reading | Root | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| bādiya (without hamza) | ب-د-و — to appear | In appearance, by outward look |
| bādiʾa (with hamza) | ب-د-أ — to begin | At the first moment, without reflection, at first glance |
Both readings are transmitted in the sources for the variant readings; I name no reciter and I do not impose a preference.
| Reading | Whom bādiya'l-raʾy qualifies |
|---|---|
| 1 | Those who follow — they are shallow of judgement, superficial people |
| 2 | Those who object — this is how we see them at first glance |
Both readings are transmitted. But the point both readings arrive at is the same, and I record this as my own reading: the measure is the surface. Either the judgement of the followers is counted superficial, or the gaze of the objectors stops at the surface.
And this overlaps with the verb narā, repeated three times in the verse: the whole of the objection is built out of what is visible. This is an overlap that can be verified from the text.
bal (the particle of retraction, iḍrāb) was treated at Qāf 50/2 and at al-Zukhruf 43/22; I rely on that treatment.
And the verb must be recorded: naẓunnukum — "we think". The root ظ-ن-ن: conjecture, an opinion held without certainty.
I record this as an observation about the word order: the first two of the three objections were built with narā (we see) — a claim to observation. The third is built with naẓunn (we think) — an opinion. The verse thereby shows, in the objection's own language, how weak it is: even in the last word there is no claim to certainty.