قَٰلَ كَمْ لَبِثْتُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ عَدَدَ سِنِينَ · قَالُوا۟ لَبِثْنَا يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ فَسْـَٔلِ ٱلْعَآدِّينَ · قَٰلَ إِن لَّبِثْتُمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا لَّوْ أَنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
qāla kam labithtum fi'l-arḍi ʿadada sinīn · qālū labithnā yawman aw baʿḍa yawmin fa's'ali'l-ʿāddīn · qāla in labithtum illā qalīlan law annakum kuntum taʿlamūn
"He said: 'How many years did you stay on the earth?' They said: 'We stayed a day, or part of a day; ask those who count.' He said: 'You stayed only a little — if only you had known.'"
Two readings are transmitted for the verb at the head of the hundred and twelfth and hundred and fourteenth verses:
| Reading | Pattern | Who says it |
|---|---|---|
| qāla | Perfect — "he said" | The third person |
| qul | Imperative — "say" | A command to the one addressed |
Both readings are transmitted; I do not impose a preference. On the second reading the question is put into the Prophet's mouth.
And the word order must be recorded: the question is asked with kam (how many) and the measure is given openly: ʿadada sinīn — "by the number of years."
I give this as my own reading, its ground being the presence of this qualification: the question itself fixes the unit of measure. And the answer given does not use that unit — it says yawman aw baʿḍa yawm. The question is asked in years, that is, and the answer given in days.
This expression is a repeated pattern in the Qurʾān and has been treated in several places across this series. A table of comparison:
| Place | Expression | The measure |
|---|---|---|
| al-Aḥqāf 46/35 | ka-annahum yawma yarawna mā yūʿadūna lam yalbathū illā sāʿatan min nahār | An hour of a day |
| al-Nāziʿāt 79/46 | ka-annahum yawma yarawnahā lam yalbathū illā ʿashiyyatan aw ḍuḥāhā | An evening or a forenoon |
| al-Rūm 30/55 | yuqsimu'l-mujrimūna mā labithū ghayra sāʿa | Less than an hour |
| al-Muʾminūn 23/113 | labithnā yawman aw baʿḍa yawm | A day or part of one |
All four expressions do the same work. And this measure was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/35, where it was recorded:
The measure is worth recording: sāʿatan min nahār — a portion of the daytime. Not of the night but of the day: that is, of the time a person spends awake and aware.
Two. And it carries an uncertainty: yawman aw baʿḍa yawm — "a day, or part of a day". No definite figure can be given.
I record this as my own reading, its ground being the particle aw: the answer says less that it is giving a measure than that it cannot measure.
| Reading | Who al-ʿāddūn are |
|---|---|
| 1 | The angels — those who record deeds and days |
| 2 | Those who deal with numbers — a general expression |
| 3 | No one in particular — a deflection meaning "ask whoever is counting" |
And the form of the answer is worth recording, and I give this as my own reading, its ground being that the sentence refers the matter to someone else: the answering party does not trust its own answer. Fa's'ali'l-ʿāddīn — "ask those who count." The answer, that is, is both a guess and a withdrawal.
I record this as my own reading, its ground being the build of the sentence: the answer does not turn out wrong. What is wrong is that this answer was not given in this world. Indeed the continuation of the sentence says so: law annakum kuntum taʿlamūn — "if only you had known."
And the apodosis of the particle law has been elided — the lexicographers record this and supply it as something like "…you would not have acted so." The sentence is left unfinished.
This is an observation about the word order: the elision leaves the completing of the sentence to the reader.