إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَءَايَٰتٍ لِّلْمُتَوَسِّمِينَ · وَإِنَّهَا لَبِسَبِيلٍ مُّقِيمٍ · إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَءَايَةً لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
Inna fī dhālika la-āyātin li'l-mutawassimīn · Wa innahā la-bi-sabīlin muqīm · Inna fī dhālika la-āyatan li'l-muʾminīn
"In this there are signs for those who know how to read traces. · That city still stands on a road in use. · In this there is a sign for those who believe."
The root was analysed at al-Qalam 68/16, and what was recorded there holds here too; I rely on that treatment:
وَسَمَ — the concrete sense of the root is to brand, to mark: wasama'l-baʿīra — he branded the camel with a hot iron. Its derivatives: sima (a brand), sīmā (a mark on the face — the word Turkish has borrowed as "sima"), mawsim (a time known by particular marks — the word Turkish has borrowed as "mevsim", season).
That the lexicographers differ over the root of the word sīmā (و-س-م / س-و-م) was recorded at al-Raḥmān and at al-Fatḥ 48/29; I rely on that treatment and do not speak with certainty.
An active participle of the tafaʿʿul form, and this form in Arabic conveys effort, repetition and gradual acquisition. That is, a mutawassim is not "one who sees the brand" — but one who tries to read from the brand, who looks at the mark and draws out what lies behind it.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the pattern itself: the verse says that the lesson is not visible to everyone. But it attaches the distinction not to a privilege but to a work — the work of reading traces. The trace is in plain view; the reading of it requires an effort.
And as was recorded at al-Najm, the Qurʾān repeats the same phenomenon by attaching it to different qualities. Here this happens two verses apart:
| Verse | Quality | What is given |
|---|---|---|
| 75 | Li'l-mutawassimīn — those who read traces | Āyāt — plural |
| 77 | Li'l-muʾminīn — those who believe | Āyatan — singular |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the difference of number: to the one who reads traces, many signs; to the one who believes, one sign. The two do not conflict; the two do different work — one draws much out of the event, the other takes the event as a whole.
I record this as an observation: the verse says that the ruins are not in a far and unreachable place. The lesson is not somewhere reached by turning aside — it is on a road that is travelled over.
The same line was treated at al-Ṣāffāt 37/137-138 (wa innakum la-tamurrūna ʿalayhim muṣbiḥīn). I rely on that treatment.