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al-Ḥajj 22:66

The Qurʾān · Sūra 22: al-Ḥajj · verse 66

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

22/66

وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَحْيَاكُمْ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ لَكَفُورٌ

Wa huwa'lladhī aḥyākum thumma yumītukum thumma yuḥyīkum · Inna'l-insāna la-kafūr

"It is He who gave you life, then will cause you to die, then will give you life again. Man is indeed ungrateful."

Three verbs, two tenses

The moods of the verbs must be recorded:

VerbMoodWhat
AḥyākumPerfect — doneHe gave life
YumītukumImperfect — to comeHe will cause to die
YuḥyīkumImperfect — to comeHe will give life

I record this as an observation about word order: one of the three is an accomplished fact, and it is the state the addressee is in. The first item of the series is therefore not in dispute — the addressee is living it.

And the second and third are in the same pattern. The verse builds a series in which, the first being granted, the second and third do not require separate assessment.

This is a summary of the proof in the fifth verse. The sūra does the same work a second time: there the process was detailed, here it is reduced to three verbs.

إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ لَكَفُورٌthe root ك-ف-ر: to cover. Kafūr is in the intensive pattern.

And the root of the word matches the subject of the verse, and I give this as an observation: the verse builds a three-stage series of life; and ingratitude is named as the covering over of that series. The root conveys exactly this.


The whole of Sūrat al-Ḥajj