وَلَا تَشْتَرُوا۟ بِعَهْدِ ٱللَّهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا إِنَّمَا عِندَ ٱللَّهِ هُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ · مَا عِندَكُمْ يَنفَدُ وَمَا عِندَ ٱللَّهِ بَاقٍ وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ صَبَرُوٓا۟ أَجْرَهُم بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ
Wa lā tashtarū bi-ʿahdi'llāhi thamanan qalīlā, innamā ʿinda'llāhi huwa khayrun lakum in kuntum taʿlamūn · Mā ʿindakum yanfadu wa mā ʿinda'llāhi bāq, wa la-najziyanna'lladhīna ṣabarū ajrahum bi-aḥsani mā kānū yaʿmalūn
"Do not sell God's covenant for a small price. What is with God is better for you, if only you knew. · What you have runs out; what is with God endures. And We shall surely give those who were patient their reward according to the best of what they used to do."
| What you have | What is with God | |
|---|---|---|
| Expression | Mā ʿindakum | Mā ʿinda'llāh |
| Predicate | Yanfadu — a verb, imperfect | Bāqin — a noun, an active participle |
And the difference of predicate must be recorded, and it is a point of word order: the first predicate is a verb, the second a noun.
In Arabic a verbal sentence conveys becoming and renewal, a nominal sentence fixity and continuance. The lexicographers record this consistently.
I give this as my own reading, its ground being the form of the two predicates: the verse gives the running out as an action in progress and the enduring as a state. The difference, then, is not in the quantity of the two things — it is that the one is at work and the other at rest.
The root ن-ف-د: to come to the end of a thing, to give out. The root was treated at Luqmān, 31/27 (mā nafidat kalimātu'llāh); I rely on that treatment. And there what does not run out was kalimāt; here what does not run out is what is with God.
بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ — and the measure of the recompense must be recorded: according to the best of what they did.
I give this as an observation: the measure is not the average of what was done but the best of it. And this is from the same root as the word iḥsān in the ninetieth verse (ح-س-ن). Having commanded iḥsān, the sūra gives the recompense too in a word from the same root.