وَيَوْمَ نَبْعَثُ فِى كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ شَهِيدًا عَلَيْهِم مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ شَهِيدًا عَلَىٰ هَٰٓؤُلَآءِ وَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ تِبْيَٰنًا لِّكُلِّ شَىْءٍ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً وَبُشْرَىٰ لِلْمُسْلِمِينَ
Wa yawma nabʿathu fī kulli ummatin shahīdan ʿalayhim min anfusihim wa jiʾnā bika shahīdan ʿalā hāʾulāʾ, wa nazzalnā ʿalayka'l-kitāba tibyānan li-kulli shayʾin wa hudan wa raḥmatan wa bushrā li'l-muslimīn
"On the day We raise up in every community a witness against them from among themselves, and bring you as a witness against these. And We have sent down to you the Book as an exposition of everything, a guidance, a mercy, and glad tidings for those who submit."
| Verse 84 | Verse 89 | |
|---|---|---|
| The particle | Nabʿathu min kulli ummatin | Nabʿathu fī kulli ummatin |
| The qualification | (none) | ʿAlayhim min anfusihim |
| What follows | The scene of punishment | Wa jiʾnā bika shahīdan |
| The closing | Lā hum yustaʿtabūn | The qualities of the Book |
The difference of particle must be recorded, and the lexicographers dwell on it: min conveys "from among"; fī conveys "within". Both particles give a sense close to the same thing, but the second stresses the witness's being inside the community.
And the eighty-ninth verse says this outright: min anfusihim — "from among themselves". The witness, then, is not someone brought in from outside.
The construction is the third and last link of the sūra's ب-ي-ن series (39, 44, 89). It was tabulated above.
And the form of the word must be recorded: tibyān — a verbal noun on the tifʿāl pattern. The lexicographers record that this pattern conveys intensification: tibyān is the fullest form of making clear.
The exegetes differ over the scope of the construction, and the disagreement must be set out in a table:
| View | What li-kulli shayʾ covers |
|---|---|
| 1 | Religious rulings and the knowledge that is needed — the context requires it |
| 2 | Everything that concerns guidance — everything within the Book's own subject |
| 3 | Absolute scope — with no limit set |
But a note must be entered in point of word order, and I give it as an observation: the word tibyān does not stand alone in the sentence; three further qualities follow it — hudan, raḥmatan, bushrā. And all three look towards a definite field: guiding, mercy, glad tidings. Read together with the three words beside it, the scope of the construction narrows. This is an observation; it is not a preference within the disagreement.
| Quality | What | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| Tibyānan li-kulli shayʾ | Exposition | (unqualified) |
| Wa hudan | Guidance | (unqualified) |
| Wa raḥmatan | Mercy | (unqualified) |
| Wa bushrā | Glad tidings | Li'l-muslimīn — qualified |
Only the last has its addressee named. I give this as an observation: exposition, guidance and mercy are unqualified; the glad tidings are for those who submit. The first three are thus left open to everyone.
And the sixty-fourth verse had a shorter form of the same sequence: wa hudan wa raḥmatan li-qawmin yuʾminūn. This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra, and here one further quality is added.