al-Muʾminūn 23:24-25

fa-qāla'l-malaʾu'lladhīna kafarū min qawmihī mā hādhā illā basharun mithlukum yurīdu an yatafaḍḍala ʿalaykum, wa law shāʾa'llāhu la-anzala malāʾikah, mā samiʿnā bi-hādhā fī ābāʾinā'l-awwalīn · in huwa illā rajulun bihī jinnatun fa-tarabbaṣū bihī ḥattā ḥīn

"The notables of his people who disbelieved said: 'This is nothing but a human being like yourselves; he wants to set himself above you. Had God willed, He would have sent down angels. We never heard of this among our forefathers. He is nothing but a man possessed; wait and watch him for a time.'"

The concrete sense of the root: to fill. Malaʾa'l-INāʾa — he filled the vessel; milʾ — a fill of something.

And al-malaʾ is described by the lexicographers as follows: the leading men of a community, its notables. Two explanations are transmitted for the naming:

Both explanations are transmitted; I do not impose a preference.

And the distribution of the word across the sūra must be recorded: al-malaʾ occurs at 24 among Noah's people, at 33 among the next people, at 46 alongside Pharaoh. Three peoples, the same class.

I record this as an observation: each time it is not the common people but the leading men who voice the objection. This can be verified from the text in all three verses.

This objection was treated in detail at al-Furqān 25/7. The sentence there was: mā li-hādhā'l-rasūli yaʾkulu'l-ṭaʿāma wa yamshī fi'l-aswāq. And this was recorded there:

The logic of the objection must be recorded: the one who is a messenger ought to be free of human needs. What is expected is that the messenger should possess a visible privilege.

I rely on that treatment. What belongs here is the comparison of the two sentences:

The two objections come out of the same place, and this can be verified from the two texts: in both the sending down of an angel is demanded, and in both the messenger's humanity is counted a defect.

And at al-Furqān 25/20 the answer given to this objection was treated: wa mā arsalnā qablaka mina'l-mursalīna illā innahum la-yaʾkulūna'l-ṭaʿāma wa yamshūna fi'l-aswāq — the objection is not rejected, it is generalised.

The answer of al-Muʾminūn lies elsewhere, and it is one of the most striking structural elements of this sūra: the fifty-first verse. There, addressing all the messengers, it will be said kulū mina'l-ṭayyibāti wa'ʿmalū ṣāliḥā — "eat of the good things and do righteous deeds". The very act that was the subject of the objection (eating), that is, becomes the content of a command. This will be treated separately at the fifty-first verse.

The root ف-ض-ل: to increase, to be in excess, to be superior. Faḍl — surplus, bounty; tafaḍḍul — to claim superiority, to strive to stand above (Form V, reflexive).

And the form of the accusation is worth recording: the claim is aimed not at what the messenger says but at his intention. Yurīdu — "he wants".

I give this as my own reading, its ground being that this is the verb used: the other side is not disputing the content of the call; it is describing the purpose behind the call. The same point was recorded at al-Furqān 25/4-8: "not one of the objections looks at what the text says." I rely on that treatment.

And the meaning of Form V must be recorded: the pattern tafaḍḍul reports that superiority is being sought by one's own effort. The charge, that is, is not "superior" but "trying to make himself superior".

The argument from the forefathers. And this expression will be turned about in the sixty-eighth verse of the sūra:

The same construction (ābāʾ + al-awwalīn), once as a ground and once as a question. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

I record this as my own reading: the other side counted novelty a defect; the sixty-eighth verse takes the same point and asks "has anything new come, then?" The assumption the objection rests on — that this had not been heard before — is thereby put in question.

The root ج-ن-ن: to cover, to conceal. Janna — a garden (the trees cover the ground); jinn — the unseen; janīn — the one covered in the womb; junna — a shield; junūn — the covering over of the mind. The root was treated in al-Qamar and in al-Jinn. I do not repeat it here.

And this charge will occur once more in the sūra, in the seventieth verse:

The very same construction (bihī jinna), in two different ages. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra, and I record it as an observation: the sūra answers the charge levelled at those it addresses by showing that it was levelled at Noah as well. The same method was recorded at al-Furqān 25/31 and at Fāṭir 35/4: the situation is not removed, it is set in a series.

The root ر-ب-ص: to wait, to watch, to keep a lookout for something to happen. Tarabbuṣ — Form V: to wait and watch.

And the expression will occur once more in the sūra — but on the other side:

The same two words (ḥattā ḥīn), in two different mouths. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

I record this as my own reading, its ground being the exact sameness of the expression: the other side says "wait a while, it will pass"; the fifty-fourth verse sets the same span for them. In neither sentence is the length of the span stated — ḥīn is an indefinite stretch of time.