وَنَجَّيْنَٰهُ وَلُوطًا إِلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ ٱلَّتِى بَٰرَكْنَا فِيهَا لِلْعَٰلَمِينَ · وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُۥٓ إِسْحَٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ نَافِلَةً وَكُلًّا جَعَلْنَا صَٰلِحِينَ · وَجَعَلْنَٰهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَهْدُونَ بِأَمْرِنَا وَأَوْحَيْنَآ إِلَيْهِمْ فِعْلَ ٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ وَإِقَامَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ وَإِيتَآءَ ٱلزَّكَوٰةِ وَكَانُوا۟ لَنَا عَٰبِدِينَ
Wa najjaynāhu wa Lūṭan ila'l-arḍi'llatī bāraknā fīhā li'l-ʿālamīn · Wa wahabnā lahu Isḥāqa wa Yaʿqūba nāfilatan wa kullan jaʿalnā ṣāliḥīn · Wa jaʿalnāhum aʾimmatan yahdūna bi-amrinā wa awḥaynā ilayhim fiʿla'l-khayrāti wa iqāma'ṣ-ṣalāti wa ītāʾa'z-zakāh, wa kānū lanā ʿābidīn
"We delivered him and Lot to the land We had blessed for all beings. · We granted him Isaac, and Jacob over and above; and each of them We made righteous. · We made them leaders guiding by Our command, and We revealed to them the doing of good works, the establishing of prayer and the giving of alms. And they were servants to Us."
| Verse | Who | Expression |
|---|---|---|
| 71 | Abraham and Lot | ila'l-arḍi'llatī bāraknā fīhā li'l-ʿālamīn — the place to which they were delivered |
| 81 | Solomon | tajrī bi-amrihi ila'l-arḍi'llatī bāraknā fīhā — the place to which the wind ran |
There are ten verses between the two occurrences, and the expression is word for word the same. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.
And a difference must be recorded: 71 has the note li'l-ʿālamīn, 81 does not. The name of the place is not given; the verse does not give it, and neither do I.
| Verse | Expression |
|---|---|
| 71 | bāraknā fīhā li'l-ʿālamīn |
| 91 | wa jaʿalnāhā wa'bnahā āyatan li'l-ʿālamīn |
| 107 | wa mā arsalnāka illā raḥmatan li'l-ʿālamīn |
Three times, for three different things: a place, a sign, a messengership. It is a countable fact and will be tabulated at the end.
Nāfila — root ن-ف-ل: an increase added on top of what is basic. Nafal — spoils (added to the basic share); and in prayer a nāfila is what is added on top of the obligatory.
| View | What nāfila qualifies |
|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob alone — Isaac had been asked for, Jacob was given over and above |
| 2 | Both of them — both were given over and above, as a gift |
| 3 | The word is a verbal noun: "as an increase" |
And a note: the verse does not name Ishmael here; it will name him in the eighty-fifth verse, in a separate group. I do not go into an order of succession or a detail of lineage that the Qurʾān has not given.
The word imām was treated at al-Qaṣaṣ, where it was tabulated that the same word is used in two opposite directions (the weak being made leaders / leaders calling to the fire). This note was relied upon at al-Furqān on 25/74 as well. I rely on those treatments.
| al-Sajda 32/24 | al-Anbiyāʾ 21/73 | |
|---|---|---|
| The expression | wa jaʿalnā minhum aʾimmatan yahdūna bi-amrinā | wa jaʿalnāhum aʾimmatan yahdūna bi-amrinā |
| Who | Some of the Children of Israel | Abraham, Isaac, Jacob |
| The condition | lammā ṣabarū — when they were patient | No condition |
| The added note | wa kānū bi-āyātinā yūqinūn | wa kānū lanā ʿābidīn |
The expression is word for word the same, the notes are different. This is a verifiable sharing of wording.
And the difference is worth recording as my own reading: al-Sajda binds the leadership to patience, al-Anbiyāʾ to servitude. Both bind it to a condition; the kind of condition differs.
وَأَوْحَيْنَآ إِلَيْهِمْ فِعْلَ ٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ — and the content of the revelation is given in three verbal nouns: doing, establishing, giving.
And a point of grammar: in the construct iqāma'ṣ-ṣalāh the tāʾ at the end of the verbal noun has been dropped (iqām, not iqāma). The grammarians explain this as the elision of the tāʾ on account of the annexation.
I record this as an observation about the structure: revelation is given here not as a piece of knowledge but as three acts.