فَقُلْنَا يَٰٓـَٔادَمُ إِنَّ هَٰذَا عَدُوٌّ لَّكَ وَلِزَوْجِكَ فَلَا يُخْرِجَنَّكُمَا مِنَ ٱلْجَنَّةِ فَتَشْقَىٰٓ · إِنَّ لَكَ أَلَّا تَجُوعَ فِيهَا وَلَا تَعْرَىٰ · وَأَنَّكَ لَا تَظْمَؤُا۟ فِيهَا وَلَا تَضْحَىٰ
Fa-qulnā yā Ādamu inna hādhā ʿaduwwun laka wa li-zawjika fa-lā yukhrijannakumā mina'l-jannati fa-tashqā · Inna laka allā tajūʿa fīhā wa lā taʿrā · Wa annaka lā taẓmaʾu fīhā wa lā taḍḥā
"So We said: 'Adam! This is an enemy to you and to your wife. Let him not drive the two of you out of the garden, or you will fall into distress. · It is given you not to be hungry there and not to be naked. · And that you will not thirst there nor be scorched by the sun.'"
This word is from the same root and on the same pattern as li-tashqā in the sūra's second verse. It was tabulated in the section on structure; here I complete it.
| Verse | Expression | To whom | What |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Mā anzalnā ʿalayka'l-Qurʾāna li-tashqā | To the Prophet | Negation — this is not the purpose |
| 117 | Fa-lā yukhrijannakumā mina'l-jannati fa-tashqā | To Adam | Warning — if you are driven out it happens |
| 123 | Fa-mani'ttabaʿa hudāya fa-lā yaḍillu wa lā yashqā | To everyone | Condition — whoever follows does not fall |
In its second verse the sūra said that the Book does not load shaqā onto the one addressed. In the hundred and seventeenth it names the real source of shaqā: being driven out of the garden, that is, falling outside the place one is in. And in the hundred and twenty-third it joins the two: whoever follows the guidance does not become shaqī.
That is, the sūra opens with "the Qurʾān is not a burden to you" and closes with "the burden is in turning away from it". This reading rests on the verbal overlap of the three verses and is verifiable.
And a detail of word order must be recorded, and it is easily missed: the prohibition is attached to the dual (yukhrijannakumā — the two of you), while the consequence is attached to the singular (fa-tashqā — you will fall into distress).
| Explanation | What it says |
|---|---|
| 1 | Harmony of the verse-endings — all the sūra's verse-endings close with alif maqṣūra; the dual form does not fit |
| 2 | Responsibility for provision — the one addressed is the one who will carry the burden of livelihood enumerated in the following verses |
| 3 | Naming the whole by a part — one is named and both are meant |
I do not impose a preference. The first explanation is an observation that can be verified from the text (the sūra's scheme of verse-endings), but it cannot be counted a cause on its own.
The hundred and eighteenth and hundred and nineteenth verses describe what it means to be in the garden by four negations:
| Order | Expression | Absence of what | Domain |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allā tajūʿa | Hunger | Inward — food |
| 2 | Wa lā taʿrā | Nakedness | Outward — clothing |
| 3 | Lā taẓmaʾu | Thirst | Inward — drink |
| 4 | Wa lā taḍḥā | Scorching by the sun | Outward — shelter |
A point of word order must be recorded, and it is striking: the four needs are ranged crosswise — inward, outward, inward, outward.
And the pairing is worth recording: hunger with nakedness in one verse, thirst with the sun in the other. That is, each verse carries one inward and one outward need.
The root ض-ح-و: the sun's rising high, being left without shade. Ḍuḥā — the forenoon; and taḍḥā — to be left under the sun without shade. The root was treated at al-Ḍuḥā in connection with the name of that sūra; I rely on that treatment. And the same word occurred as a time of day in the fifty-ninth verse of this sūra: wa an yuḥshara'n-nāsu ḍuḥā.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the choice of the four words: the verses do not enumerate the favours of the garden — they enumerate the four basic hardships of life on earth. Food, clothing, water, shelter. That is, the concrete content of the word shaqā is given here: the necessity of chasing after the four needs that constitute a human life.
And in the context of Ṭāhā this joins with the second verse: the lexical sense of shaqā was "to undergo hardship, to toil" — tabulated in the discussion of 20/2-3. The hundred and eighteenth and hundred and nineteenth verses enumerate the four items of that toil. This is a completion that can be verified within the sūra.