وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنشَأَ لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمْعَ وَٱلْأَبْصَٰرَ وَٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةَ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَشْكُرُونَ
At al-Sajda 32/9 this triad was treated for the fourth time and a table of four links was built. The fifth link is here, and I extend the table:
| Place | Sentence | Verb | The work of the triad |
|---|---|---|---|
| al-Aḥqāf 46/26 | wa jaʿalnā lahum samʿan wa abṣāran wa afʾidatan fa-mā aghnā ʿanhum… | jaʿala | Given — it availed nothing |
| al-Jāthiya 45/23 | wa khatama ʿalā samʿihī wa qalbihī wa jaʿala ʿalā baṣarihī ghishāwatan | khatama / jaʿala | Closed — a seal and a veil |
| Fuṣṣilat 41/20 | shahida ʿalayhim samʿuhum wa abṣāruhum wa julūduhum | shahida | They bore witness — the third is skin |
| al-Sajda 32/9 | wa jaʿala lakum … qalīlan mā tashkurūn | jaʿala | Given — no thanks were given |
| al-Muʾminūn 23/78 | wa huwa'lladhī anshaʾa lakum … qalīlan mā tashkurūn | anshaʾa | Built up — no thanks were given |
The meaning of the ordering was recorded at al-Aḥqāf 46/26 and holds here too: it goes from outside inward — what is heard → what is seen → what is weighed within. The root of the word أَفْـِٔدَة (ف-ء-د, the burning of an ember; fuʾād, the kindling side of the heart) was worked out there; I do not repeat it here.
And samʿ is singular, abṣār and afʾida plural. The lexicographers explain the difference by hearing being of a single kind; I pass the explanation on as it is transmitted. In all five of the five verses the same singular-plural arrangement is kept (in Fuṣṣilat it differs because the third is julūd).
These two verses are the closest to one another of the five links: both end with the same sentence (qalīlan mā tashkurūn). The difference between them lies in the verb, and it must be recorded:
| al-Sajda 32/9 | al-Muʾminūn 23/78 | |
|---|---|---|
| The verb | jaʿala — put from one state into another | anshaʾa — set up, built |
| The build of the sentence | wa jaʿala lakum — a conjunction to the preceding sentence | wa huwa'lladhī anshaʾa lakum — an independent nominal sentence |
| What precedes | sawwāhu wa nafakha fīhi min rūḥih — the forming of the human being | idhā hum fīhi mublisūn (77) — the scene of punishment |
| What follows | wa qālū a-idhā ḍalalnā fi'l-arḍ — the objection about resurrection | wa huwa'lladhī dharaʾakum fi'l-arḍ (79) — two further proofs |
The difference of verb is worth recording, and I give this as my own reading: jaʿala reports putting what exists into a state; anshaʾa setting up, standing upright. This sense of the root was worked out in al-Wāqiʿa, where it was recorded: the verb reports a rebuilding.
And the root has five occurrences in this sūra (14, 19, 31, 42, 78) — tabulated at the nineteenth verse. The fifth occurrence is here, and it is the last row of the table: the sūra tells of the organs with the same verb it used for the human being, the gardens and the generations.
The word order was treated at al-Sajda 32/9 and holds here too: qalīlan has been brought forward (taqdīm); and mā here is either a reinforcer of the negation or a particle of the verbal noun; both parsings are transmitted. I do not repeat it here.
What belongs here is the place of the sentence within the sūra: the seventy-seventh verse had ended with the cutting off of sound (mublisūn). The seventy-eighth opens a new block by enumerating three gates that were given.
I record this as my own reading, its ground being the order of the two verses: immediately after the scene of punishment, the organs of sense and understanding are named. A link is built between the two verses: at the place where hope is cut off, the instruments that went unused are recalled. This is a reading, and it is not binding.