al-Muʾminūn 23:47-49

fa-qālū a-nuʾminu li-basharayni mithlinā wa qawmuhumā lanā ʿābidūn · fa-kadhdhabūhumā fa-kānū mina'l-muhlakīn · wa laqad ātaynā mūsā'l-kitāba laʿallahum yahtadūn

"They said: 'Are we to believe two human beings like ourselves, while their people are servants to us?' They denied them, and became of those destroyed. We gave Moses the Book, assuredly — that they might be guided."

This is the third basharun mithlukum objection in the sūra, and it is set apart from the earlier ones by one difference: a social ground is added here.

The third is worth recording: here the objection rests not on the kind but on the social order of rank.

And the particle must be recorded: nuʾminu li-basharayn. In Arabic there is a nuance between āmana bi- (to believe in a thing) and āmana li- (to trust someone, to accept his word), and the lexicographers record it. The particle here is lām: what is at issue is accepting the word of two men.

The root ع-ب-د has a particular feature here, and it must be recorded.

The concrete sense of the root is given by the lexicographers as follows: ṭarīqun muʿabbad — a road levelled and made smooth by being trodden. From this comes the sense of submitting, serving.

And the word is used here not for a service directed to God but for one directed to human beings: lanā ʿābidūn. The word, that is, is not confined to the sense of worship; it is used for service and subordination as well. The lexicographers record this.

I record this as an observation about the language: the other side builds its own standing by looking at who serves whom. And this stands in contrast with the description of the muʾminūn in the first verse of the sūra: there identity is settled by a list of attributes, here by a hierarchy. I record this contrast as my own reading.

The brevity of the narrative is worth recording: the narrative of Moses is one of the longest accounts in the Qurʾān; here it ends in three verses, and none of the events is told — no staff, no sea, no exodus.

I give this as an observation, its ground being the block as a whole: the sūra lines up the narratives not in order to tell them but in order to show the repeating pattern. Here too, accordingly, there are only three elements: the sending, the objection, the outcome.

And the verb must be recorded: kānū mina'l-muhlakīn — "they became of those destroyed". A passive participle pattern. Entry into a group is reported, that is — the group formed by the peoples named before.

The word order must be recorded: the forty-eighth verse had reported the destruction; the forty-ninth turns back and names the giving of the Book.

And the pronoun must be recorded: laʿallahum yahtadūn — who are "they"? The lexicographers differ:

I pass the disagreement on; I do not impose a preference.