وَقُل لِّعِبَادِى يَقُولُوا۟ ٱلَّتِى هِىَ أَحْسَنُ
Wa qul li-ʿibādī yaqūlu'llatī hiya aḥsan, inna'l-shayṭāna yanzaghu baynahum, inna'l-shayṭāna kāna li'l-insāni ʿaduwwan mubīnā · Rabbukum aʿlamu bikum, in yashaʾ yarḥamkum aw in yashaʾ yuʿadhdhibkum, wa mā arsalnāka ʿalayhim wakīlā · Wa rabbuka aʿlamu biman fi'l-samāwāti wa'l-arḍ, wa laqad faḍḍalnā baʿḍa'l-nabiyyīna ʿalā baʿḍ, wa ātaynā Dāwūda zabūrā
"And tell My servants to say what is best. For Satan sows discord among them. Satan is a manifest enemy to man. Your Lord knows you best; if He wills He will have mercy on you, and if He wills He will punish you. We have not sent you as a trustee over them. Your Lord knows best whoever is in the heavens and the earth. We have favoured some of the prophets over others, and We gave David the Zabūr."
The construction is on the same pattern as allatī hiya aqwam in the ninth verse: the qualified noun elided, the adjective an elative.
| Verse | Construction | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Allatī hiya aqwam | The Qurʾān guides |
| 53 | Allatī hiya aḥsan | The servants speak |
| 34 | Bi'llatī hiya aḥsan | The way of approaching the orphan's property |
The same pattern in three separate places in the sūra and in three separate fields: direction, speech, conduct. This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra.
I record this as my own reading: each time, the pattern sets the highest threshold. Not "what is good" but "what is best". And because in all three the qualified noun is left unspoken, the measure stays open.
The root: to goad, to provoke, to come between and spoil. The lexicographers explain the root by the goading of an animal into movement.
The root was treated at 41/36 in Fuṣṣilat (wa immā yanzaghannaka mina'l-shayṭāni nazghun fa'staʿidh bi'llāh), and something similar was named at 19/83 in Maryam (taʾuzzuhum azzā). I rely on those treatments.
And the difference here must be recorded: in Fuṣṣilat the goading is directed at the person; in al-Isrāʾ at what lies between them — yanzaghu baynahum.
| Place | Where the goading is directed |
|---|---|
| Fuṣṣilat 41/36 | At the person himself |
| al-Isrāʾ 17/53 | At what lies between two people |
The same verb, once for the inward and once for a relationship. I record this as an observation: the verse sets the outcome of an evil word not as an individual sin but as the spoiling of a relationship.
The limit of responsibility is drawn once more. A cross-sūra table of this limit was given at 28/56 in al-Qaṣaṣ; 25/43 in al-Furqān and 39/41 in al-Zumar had been added to that table too. This verse is a link on the same line.
And its link within the sūra must be recorded: in the second verse it had been said allā tattakhidhū min dūnī wakīlā.
| Verse | Wakīl | Who / whose |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Allā tattakhidhū min dūnī wakīlā | The servant — whom he is to take as trustee |
| 54 | Wa mā arsalnāka ʿalayhim wakīlā | The Prophet — not a trustee |
| 65 | Wa kafā bi-rabbika wakīlā | The Lord — the trustee who suffices |
| 68 | Thumma lā tajidū lakum wakīlā | Absence — the trustee that cannot be found |
The word occurs in four places in the sūra and in four different roles. This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra, and I record this as my own reading: the sūra narrows the place of reliance in four steps — the taking of one, the messenger's not being one, the Lord's sufficing, and no other being found.
The same pattern had been used of human beings in the twenty-first verse: faḍḍalnā baʿḍahum ʿalā baʿḍ.
| Verse | Who | The measure |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Human beings | Wa la'l-ākhiratu akbaru darajāt — the real difference is in the hereafter |
| 55 | The prophets | An example: wa ātaynā Dāwūda zabūrā |
زَبُور — root ز-ب-ر: to write, to carve into stone. Zubra — a piece of iron; zabūr — that which is written. The word is used here as the name of a book.