بَلْ قَالُوا۟ مِثْلَ مَا قَالَ ٱلْأَوَّلُونَ · قَالُوٓا۟ أَءِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا وَعِظَٰمًا أَءِنَّا لَمَبْعُوثُونَ · لَقَدْ وُعِدْنَا نَحْنُ وَءَابَآؤُنَا هَٰذَا مِن قَبْلُ إِنْ هَٰذَآ إِلَّآ أَسَٰطِيرُ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ
bal qālū mithla mā qāla'l-awwalūn · qālū a-idhā mitnā wa kunnā turāban wa ʿiẓāman a-innā la-mabʿūthūn · laqad wuʿidnā naḥnu wa ābāʾunā hādhā min qablu in hādhā illā asāṭīru'l-awwalīn
"No — they said the same as those before them said: 'When we are dead and have become dust and bones, are we then to be raised? We were promised this before, we and our forefathers. This is nothing but the tales of the ancients.'"
And this is one of the most striking sentences of the sūra, because the text names the work it is itself doing.
In the thirty-fifth verse an unnamed people had said: a-yaʿidukum annakum idhā mittum wa kuntum turāban wa ʿiẓāman annakum mukhrajūn.
In the eighty-second verse those addressed say: a-idhā mitnā wa kunnā turāban wa ʿiẓāman a-innā la-mabʿūthūn.
| 23/35 | 23/82 | |
|---|---|---|
| Who | The notables of an unnamed people | Those addressed |
| The pattern | a-yaʿidukum — an objection in the third person ("does he promise you") | a-idhā mitnā — the first person ("when we die") |
| The shared wording | idhā mittum wa kuntum turāban wa ʿiẓāman | idhā mitnā wa kunnā turāban wa ʿiẓāman |
| The last word | mukhrajūn — brought out | mabʿūthūn — raised |
The shared portion is word for word. And the sūra says so openly in the eighty-first verse: bal qālū mithla mā qāla'l-awwalūn.
I record this as my own reading, its ground being this exact overlap: the sūra repeats here, in the mouths of those it addresses, a sentence it placed forty-seven verses earlier in the mouth of a people and itself notes the repetition. The text, that is, does not merely tell the narrative as an example — it also itself establishes the overlap between the example and the present situation.
The root س-ط-ر: to write line by line, to set in rows. Saṭr — a line, a row; asṭār — lines. Asāṭīr — counted the plural of usṭūra: stories strung together and told.
The root was treated at al-Qamar 54/53 (wa kullu ṣaghīrin wa kabīrin mustaṭar) in comparison with ز-ب-ر and worked out at al-Qalam 68/1 (wa'l-qalami wa mā yasṭurūn). I do not repeat it here.
And the construction occurred word for word at al-Furqān 25/5: wa qālū asāṭīru'l-awwalīna'ktatabahā fa-hiya tumlā ʿalayhi bukratan wa aṣīlā. And it was tabulated there as the second of four objections.
| al-Furqān 25/5 | al-Muʾminūn 23/83 | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is said of | The Qurʾān — its compilation is described | The promise of resurrection |
| Addition | iktatabahā fa-hiya tumlā ʿalayh — the claim of dictation | None |
| What precedes | ifkun'ftarāh — the claim of invention | laqad wuʿidnā naḥnu wa ābāʾunā — its age |
And the distribution of the word al-awwalīn across the sūra must be recorded: 24 (ābāʾinā'l-awwalīn), 68 (ābāʾahumu'l-awwalīn), 81 (al-awwalūn), 83 (asāṭīru'l-awwalīn). Four occurrences, all about "those who came before".
I record this as an observation: the other side uses awwalīn as a proof (24, 83); the sūra uses it as a diagnosis (68, 81). The same word, in two different offices.
The logic of the objection must be recorded: the age of the promise is counted the proof that it will not come about.
I give this as an observation: the same ground was used the other way round in the twenty-fourth verse — there its being unheard of was the fault, here its having been heard many times is the fault.
| Verse | Ground | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | mā samiʿnā bi-hādhā fī ābāʾinā'l-awwalīn | Rejected because it is new |
| 83 | laqad wuʿidnā naḥnu wa ābāʾunā hādhā min qabl | Rejected because it is old |
The two grounds are the opposite of one another, and both are inside the sūra. This is a contrast that can be verified from the text, and I interpret it as my own reading: the refusal takes its ground from the circumstances — the ground changes, the refusal does not. This is the same as the finding recorded at al-Furqān 25/4-8.