إِن تَحْرِصْ عَلَىٰ هُدَىٰهُمْ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِى مَن يُضِلُّ وَمَا لَهُم مِّن نَّٰصِرِينَ · وَأَقْسَمُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ جَهْدَ أَيْمَٰنِهِمْ لَا يَبْعَثُ ٱللَّهُ مَن يَمُوتُ بَلَىٰ وَعْدًا عَلَيْهِ حَقًّا وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ · لِيُبَيِّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلَّذِى يَخْتَلِفُونَ فِيهِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓا۟ أَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ كَٰذِبِينَ
In taḥriṣ ʿalā hudāhum fa-inna'llāha lā yahdī man yuḍillu wa mā lahum min nāṣirīn · Wa aqsamū bi'llāhi jahda aymānihim lā yabʿathu'llāhu man yamūt, balā waʿdan ʿalayhi ḥaqqan wa lākinna akthara'l-nāsi lā yaʿlamūn · Li-yubayyina lahumu'lladhī yakhtalifūna fīhi wa li-yaʿlama'lladhīna kafarū annahum kānū kādhibīn
"However eager you are for their guidance, God does not guide the one He lets go astray; and they have no helpers. · They swore by God with the utmost of their oaths: 'God will not raise up one who dies.' No indeed! It is a promise binding upon Him, in truth — but most people do not know. · That He may make clear to them that over which they differ, and that those who disbelieved may know that they were liars."
The lexicographers give the concrete sense of the root thus: to be excessively eager to obtain a thing; and ḥarasa'l-thawb — to rub a cloth too hard in the washing and so wear it out.
This second picture is worth recording, and I give it as an observation about the language: in the root there is the idea that an excess of wanting does damage. And this is exactly what the verse says: eagerness does not change the outcome. The same line was treated at Fāṭir, 35/8 (fa-lā tadhhab nafsuka ʿalayhim ḥasarāt); I rely on that treatment.
Jahda aymānihim — "with the utmost force of their oaths". Root ج-ه-د: to spend strength, to go to the end of one's capacity. The root was treated at al-ʿAnkabūt, 29/6 and 29/69; I rely on that treatment.
The construction occurs in several places in the Qurʾān, and the same form was present at Fāṭir, 35/42.
And the work it does here must be recorded: what is sworn to is a denial — lā yabʿathu'llāhu man yamūt. A form of affirmation of the highest degree is thus used to prop up a negation.
I give this as an observation: the verse shows that the direction of certainty can change. The same word (balā) refuted a denial in the twenty-eighth verse as well; here it refutes an oath.
The thirty-ninth verse says why the raising takes place, and the ground it gives is worth recording:
| Purpose | Expression | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Li-yubayyina lahumu'lladhī yakhtalifūna fīh | To those who differ — a making clear |
| 2 | Wa li-yaʿlama'lladhīna kafarū annahum kānū kādhibīn | To those who disbelieved — knowledge of their own condition |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the word of the first purpose: the verse names the raising first of all not as punishment but as tabyīn — a making clear. The ending of the disagreement is counted as the first work of the scene.
The root ب-ي-ن is one of the sūra's backbones and we shall return to it in the verses ahead: li-tubayyina li'l-nās in the forty-fourth verse, tibyānan li-kulli shayʾ in the eighty-ninth. All three occurrences can be verified from the text.