وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَا مُوسَىٰ وَهَٰرُونَ ٱلْفُرْقَانَ وَضِيَآءً وَذِكْرًا لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ · ٱلَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُم بِٱلْغَيْبِ وَهُم مِّنَ ٱلسَّاعَةِ مُشْفِقُونَ · وَهَٰذَا ذِكْرٌ مُّبَارَكٌ أَنزَلْنَٰهُ أَفَأَنتُمْ لَهُۥ مُنكِرُونَ
Wa laqad ātaynā Mūsā wa Hārūna'l-furqāna wa ḍiyāʾan wa dhikran li'l-muttaqīn · Alladhīna yakhshawna rabbahum bi'l-ghaybi wa hum mina's-sāʿati mushfiqūn · Wa hādhā dhikrun mubārakun anzalnāh, a-fa-antum lahu munkirūn
"Indeed We gave Moses and Aaron the Criterion, and a light and a remembrance for those who guard themselves · who fear their Lord unseen and tremble at the Hour. · And this too is a blessed remembrance that We have sent down. Will you then deny it?"
"The root ف-ر-ق: to separate, to open a space between two things. […] The pattern furqān (fuʿlān) is counted by the lexicographers a noun conveying an action: 'the act of separating' or 'that which distinguishes'. […] This name given to the Book conveys not its content but its function."
I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it. Here I add what is peculiar to al-Anbiyāʾ, because it is striking:
In Sūrat al-Furqān this name was given to the Qurʾān. Here the same name is given to what was given to Moses and Aaron.
| al-Furqān 25/1 | al-Anbiyāʾ 21/48 | |
|---|---|---|
| To whom | ʿalā ʿabdihi — to His servant | to Moses and Aaron |
| What was given | al-Furqān | al-Furqāna wa ḍiyāʾan wa dhikrā |
| For what | li-yakūna li'l-ʿālamīna nadhīrā | li'l-muttaqīn |
I record this as my own reading, its ground being the two verses' shared word: Furqān is not the proper name of a book but the name of a function. Two books that do the same work can be named by the same name. This was recorded in Sūrat al-Furqān — al-Anbiyāʾ shows it in practice.
| Word | Root | Its function |
|---|---|---|
| فُرْقَان | ف-ر-ق | It separates — the true from the false |
| ضِيَاء | ض-و-أ | It lights — it makes visible |
| ذِكْر | ذ-ك-ر | It reminds — it brings back what was forgotten |
Three, and three different works. And in Sūrat Yūnus ḍiyāʾ is used of the sun and nūr of the moon (Yūnus 10/5). On the basis of this distinction the lexicographers separate ḍiyāʾ as "light that is a thing's own" from nūr as "reflected light". I transmit this as a transmitted distinction.
And the fiftieth verse is the densest use of the root dhikr in the sūra: the same word is used two verses apart for two different books (48: what was given to Moses; 50: this one).
Mubārak — root ب-ر-ك, treated at al-Mulk on 67/1 and at al-Furqān on 25/1. The core sense: a camel's kneeling down, settling in a place and staying fixed — whence blessing: a good that lasts and increases. I do not repeat it here.
And a note about word order: Sūrat al-Furqān had opened with tabāraka (a verb); al-Anbiyāʾ uses mubārak (a passive participle). The same root, one qualifying the source, the other what is given.