وَلَقَدْ نَعْلَمُ أَنَّكَ يَضِيقُ صَدْرُكَ بِمَا يَقُولُونَ · فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَكُن مِّنَ ٱلسَّٰجِدِينَ
Wa laqad naʿlamu annaka yaḍīqu ṣadruka bimā yaqūlūn · Fa-sabbiḥ bi-ḥamdi Rabbika wa kun mina'l-sājidīn
"We know that your breast is straitened by what they say. · So glorify your Lord with praise and be of those who prostrate."
The mode of the verb must be recorded: naʿlamu — imperfect (continuing). That is, not "we knew" but "we know."
I record this as an observation about the word order: the sentence makes a finding before it offers a solution. And the finding does not treat the state of the one addressed as invalid — it names it.
The ض-ي-ق root: narrowness. Ḍayq — to be narrow. And the construction yaḍīqu ṣadruka — "your breast is straitened."
The picture in the word is worth recording: in Arabic inward distress is recounted by way of the width or narrowness of the breast. Its opposite was analysed at al-Inshirāḥ in connection with the name of that sūra: a-lam nashraḥ laka ṣadrak — the splitting open and widening of the breast. I rely on that treatment.
| Place | Expression | State |
|---|---|---|
| al-Inshirāḥ 94/1 | A-lam nashraḥ laka ṣadrak | Widening |
| al-Ḥijr 15/97 | Yaḍīqu ṣadruka | Narrowing |
And the cause of the narrowing is stated: bimā yaqūlūn — "by what they say." Not what they do, but what they say. This joins with the sixth verse of the sūra: innaka la-majnūn.
The same structure was treated at Qāf 50/39-40, and it was recorded there: "After the chain of proof is complete, the command given to the Prophet is not to keep up the dispute; it is to be patient and to glorify." I rely on that treatment.
What belongs here is this, and I record it as a weave within the sūra: the expression kun mina'l-sājidīn uses the same word as the twenty-ninth and thirty-first verses of the sūra.
| Verse | Expression | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 29 | Fa-qaʿū lahu sājidīn | The angels — a command |
| 31 | Abā an yakūna maʿa'l-sājidīn | Iblīs — he refused |
| 98 | Wa kun mina'l-sājidīn | The Prophet — a command |
Three occurrences, the same word. I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the word shared by the three verses: after recounting one who refused to be with those who prostrate, the sūra says to its own addressee, with the same word, "be of those who prostrate." And the difference between the two is the whole subject of the sūra.