إِنَّهُۥ مَن يَأْتِ رَبَّهُۥ مُجْرِمًا فَإِنَّ لَهُۥ جَهَنَّمَ لَا يَمُوتُ فِيهَا وَلَا يَحْيَىٰ · وَمَن يَأْتِهِۦ مُؤْمِنًا قَدْ عَمِلَ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ لَهُمُ ٱلدَّرَجَٰتُ ٱلْعُلَىٰ · جَنَّٰتُ عَدْنٍ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَٰرُ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا وَذَٰلِكَ جَزَآءُ مَن تَزَكَّىٰ
Innahu man yaʾti rabbahu mujriman fa-inna lahu jahannama lā yamūtu fīhā wa lā yaḥyā · Wa man yaʾtihi muʾminan qad ʿamila'ṣ-ṣāliḥāti fa-ulāʾika lahumu'd-darajātu'l-ʿulā · Jannātu ʿadnin tajrī min taḥtiha'l-anhāru khālidīna fīhā, wa dhālika jazāʾu man tazakkā
"Whoever comes to his Lord as a criminal, for him there is Hell; he neither dies in it nor lives. · And whoever comes to Him as a believer who has done righteous deeds, for those there are the highest ranks: · gardens of Eden with rivers running beneath them, where they abide. That is the recompense of the one who purifies himself."
A point of word order must be recorded, and it has been disputed in the classical commentaries: are these three verses the continuation of the sorcerers' speech, or a statement interposed by the text?
| Reading | What it says |
|---|---|
| 1 | The continuation of the sorcerers' speech — they are explaining the abqā of the seventy-third verse |
| 2 | The text's own statement — a sentence of verdict following the speech |
I do not impose a preference. I record one indication, not as a preference: the seventy-fourth verse opens with innahu, and this is a particle of explanation attached to the preceding sentence; but the content of the verses (the gardens of Eden, the ranks) may also be seen as beyond the knowledge of the sorcerers. Neither reading runs against the text.
I record this as an observation: the sentence does not give a description of the punishment — it says that both exits are closed. Death is a way out and life is a possibility; neither is there.
The same expression was treated at al-Aʿlā on 87/13 (thumma lā yamūtu fīhā wa lā yaḥyā). I rely on that treatment. And it lies in the same field as the state of waiting recorded at Maryam on 19/68-72 (jithiyyā — on the knees).
| Verse | Expression | Of whom |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Wa's-samāwāti'l-ʿulā | The heavens |
| 68 | Innaka anta'l-aʿlā | Moses — for that moment |
| 75 | Lahumu'd-darajātu'l-ʿulā | Those who believe and do good |
The same root in three separate places in the sūra: the heavens, a servant, and a recompense. This is a distribution that can be verified from the text.
And I record a caution about the language, because the two are easily confused: this sūra contains two distinct roots that closely resemble one another and must not be mixed up:
| Word | Root | Sense | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| al-ʿulā | ع-ل-و | Highest | 4 (al-samāwāti'l-ʿulā), 75 (al-darajātu'l-ʿulā) |
| al-ūlā | أ-و-ل | First, former | 21 (sīratahā'l-ūlā), 51 (al-qurūni'l-ūlā), 133 (al-ṣuḥufi'l-ūlā) |
The two words are close in their written form; their roots are distinct. I give this as a note about the language.
تَزَكَّىٰ — root ز-ك-و: to grow, to be purified. The root was treated at al-Shams on 91/9 (qad aflaḥa man zakkāhā) and at al-Aʿlā on 87/14 (qad aflaḥa man tazakkā). I rely on those treatments.
And I record a datum of the text: there is an overlap between al-Aʿlā 87/14-15 and this verse — in al-Aʿlā it said qad aflaḥa man tazakkā · wa dhakara'sma rabbihi fa-ṣallā: purification, remembrance and prayer in the same order. The same three are distributed across Ṭāhā as well (14: prayer and remembrance; 76: purification). I record this overlap as an observation, not as a claim about intent.