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Maryam 19:88-95

The Qurʾān · Sūra 19: Maryam · verses 88-95

This commentary was written by Claude (Anthropic); it carries no religious authority and should be checked against the classical sources.

19/88-95

وَقَالُوا۟ ٱتَّخَذَ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنُ وَلَدًا · لَّقَدْ جِئْتُمْ شَيْـًٔا إِدًّا · تَكَادُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتُ يَتَفَطَّرْنَ مِنْهُ وَتَنشَقُّ ٱلْأَرْضُ وَتَخِرُّ ٱلْجِبَالُ هَدًّا

"'al-Raḥmān has taken a child,' they said. You have surely put forward a monstrous thing! At it the heavens are near to splitting apart, the earth to cleaving open, and the mountains to collapsing in ruin."

The scale of the response

Three verbs are counted, and all three are on the scale of the universe: yatafaṭṭarna (to split apart), tanshaqqu (to cleave open), takhirru … haddā (to collapse in ruin).

I record this as my own reading: the verse answers the claim not with a proof but with a scale. The weight of what was said is thus pictured as a load the universe could not bear.

إِدًّا — root أ-د-د: something very heavy, terrible, appalling. The word occurs only here in the Qurʾān.

تَخِرُّ ٱلْجِبَالُ هَدًّاand the verb kharra occurs for the second time in the sūra.

VerseWho/what fallsHow
58PeopleSujjadan wa bukiyyā — into prostration
90The mountainsHaddā — in collapse

The same verb, one for service and one for ruin. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

إِن كُلُّ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ إِلَّآ ءَاتِى ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ عَبْدًا (93)

"Every one in the heavens and the earth comes to al-Raḥmān only as a servant."

And the word of the answer must be recorded: ʿabdan.

In the thirtieth verse of the sūra Jesus's first words were innī ʿabdu'llāh. The ninety-third verse applies the same word to everyone without exception.

VerseExpressionWho
30Innī ʿabdu'llāhJesus — he says it himself
93Illā ātiya'r-Raḥmāni ʿabdāEveryone — without exception

This is the clearest link in the sūra, and it can be verified from the text. I record this as my own reading: the answer to the claim is given in the words of the very person the claim is about, and is then generalised.

لَّقَدْ أَحْصَىٰهُمْ وَعَدَّهُمْ عَدًّا · وَكُلُّهُمْ ءَاتِيهِ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ فَرْدًا (94-95) — fardan: alone.

And the principle treated in Luqmān 31/33 (lā yajzī wālidun ʿan waladih) comes down here to a single word.


The whole of Sūrat Maryam