25. Sūrat al-Furqān

Seventy-seven verses. It is widely reported that it was revealed in the Meccan period. It takes its name from the word ٱلْفُرْقَان in the first verse: that which separates, that which makes distinct.

The backbone of the sūra is a comparison: in the first block those addressed object to the Prophet — "what kind of messenger is this, who eats food and walks about in the markets" (7). And in its last block the sūra gives an indirect but complete answer to that objection: the attributes of the ʿibād al-Raḥmān likewise begin with walking (63). That is, the sūra closes the debate over "what a messenger should be" with a description of "how a servant lives".

"Blessed is He who sent down the Furqān upon His servant, that he might be a warner to all the worlds!"

Root ب-ر-ك: the core sense the lexicographers give is baraka — the kneeling of a camel, settling in a place and staying fixed there. From this comes the sense of baraka (a good that lasts and increases). The root was treated at al-Mulk 67/1 (tabāraka'lladhī bi-yadihi'l-mulk). I do not repeat it here.

The word occurs three times in this sūra: 1, 10, 61. This is a pattern that can be verified from the text, and the subjects of the three occurrences differ: the book, the promise, the sky.

The root ف-ر-ق: to separate, to open a gap between two things. The root was treated at al-Dukhān 44/4 (yufraqu kullu amrin ḥakīm) and in al-Mursalāt.

Furqān — the pattern (fuʿlān) is counted by the lexicographers as a noun of action: "the act of separating", or "that which makes distinct".

I record this as an observation: this name given to the book states not its content but its function. And the whole of the sūra is that function put into practice: through the verses two parties, two sayings, two walks, two waters, two ends will be separated.

عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ — "upon His servant". The designation is worth recording: the objection that will come in the seventh verse will be aimed at exactly this point — mā li-hādha'r-rasūli yaʾkulu'ṭ-ṭaʿām. At the very outset the verse says that the one sent is a servant.

ٱلَّذِى لَهُۥ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ … وَخَلَقَ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ فَقَدَّرَهُۥ تَقْدِيرًا — taqdīr: the root ق-د-ر was treated at al-Qadr, al-Qamar 54/49 and al-Zumar 39/67 — the core sense is measure. I do not repeat it here.

Wa qāla'lladhīna kafarū in hādhā illā ifkuni'ftarāhu wa aʿānahū ʿalayhi qawmun ākharūn · Wa qālū asāṭīru'l-awwalīna'ktatabahā fa-hiya tumlā ʿalayhi bukratan wa aṣīlā

"Those who disbelieve said: 'This is nothing but a falsehood he has invented; and another people has helped him with it.' And they said: 'Legends of the ancients! He has had them written down, and they are recited to him morning and evening.'"

Four separate objections are set out across the block:

Not one of the four has to do with the content. I record this as my own reading: none of the objections looks at what the text says — they look at its source, at how it was put together, and at the condition of the one who carries it.

تُمْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا — bukratan wa aṣīlā (early morning and late afternoon). These two times were treated at al-Insān 76/25 and Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/55.

And this is worth recording: there the same two times were named for glorification; here they occur inside an accusation. The objection describes a regular course of work.

The objection in the seventh verse is the place in the sūra that will be dwelt on most — because it will be answered directly in the twentieth verse.

The logic of the objection must be recorded: one who is a messenger ought to be far from human needs. That is, what is expected is that the messenger should hold a visible privilege — an angel accompanying him (7), a treasure sent down to him (8), a garden given to him (8).

"Blessed is He who, had He willed, would have given you better than that!… No — they have denied the Hour."

The tenth verse answers the objection in the eighth (the treasure, the garden) — and the form of the answer must be recorded: the demand is not rejected; it is said to be within reach (in shāʾa jaʿala laka).

And the eleventh verse names the real source of the objection: bal kadhdhabū bi's-sāʿa — "no — they have denied the Hour."

The particle bal must be recorded: it lets go of what was said before and brings in the real cause. I give this as my own reading: the sūra says that beneath the objection that is voiced (wealth, an angel) there lies a refusal that is not voiced. That is, the dispute is not where it appears to be.

"When it sees them from a far place, they hear its raging growl and its roar."

The subject of the verb must be recorded: raʾathum — the one that sees is the fire. That is, the act of seeing has been reversed.

تَغَيُّظ — root غ-ي-ظ: anger that boils up from within. Zafīr — a rasping breath drawn from deep down.

I record this as an observation: both words have to do with sound, and both are sounds belonging to a living thing. The figure of tashkhīṣ (personification) was treated at Qāf 50/30 (hal imtalaʾti); I rely on that treatment.

ثُبُور — destruction, annihilation. The expression is a cry of the sort "woe is me, I am finished!"

And the form of the answer is worth recording: the cry is not forbidden — it is told to be multiplied. Lā tadʿū … thubūran wāḥidan wa'dʿū thubūran kathīrā. I record this as an observation about the word order: the sentence answers by refusing to console.

قُلْ أَذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ أَمْ جَنَّةُ ٱلْخُلْدِ (15) — and the block turns upon a question of comparison.

The question is put to those who were served, and their answer is reported: subḥānaka mā kāna yanbaghī lanā an nattakhidha min dūnika min awliyāʾ.

The same reversal was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/5-6 and at Fāṭir 35/14: the party who was called upon refusing in the end. I rely on that treatment.

"All the messengers We sent before you likewise ate food and walked about in the markets. We have made you a trial for one another: will you endure?"

The verse repeats the words of the objection in the seventh verse exactly: yaʾkulūna'ṭ-ṭaʿāma wa yamshūna fi'l-aswāq.

The same expression, once as a defect and once as a rule. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

I record this as my own reading: the answer does not reject the objection's description — it confirms it and generalises it. That is, what is said is not "it is not so" but "it has always been so". The thing objected to is set down not as an exception but as the rule.

وَجَعَلْنَا بَعْضَكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ فِتْنَةً أَتَصْبِرُونَ — "We have made you a trial for one another."

The root ف-ت-ن was treated in detail at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/2-10 (the testing of gold in fire), and it was recorded there that the trial comes at the hands of people (jaʿala fitnata'n-nāsi ka-ʿadhābi'llāh). I rely on that treatment.

The addition here must be recorded: the trial is mutual — baʿḍakum li-baʿḍ. That is, one is both the one who tests and the one tested. And the question is tied to a single verb: a-taṣbirūn.

"Those who do not hope for the meeting with Us said: 'Should not angels have been sent down to us, or should we not see our Lord?' They have indeed made themselves great within themselves, and have gone very far in insolence."

In the seventh verse an angel's accompanying him was asked for; here the demand grows: aw narā rabbanā.

I record this as an observation: the demand moves from refusing the intermediary towards making the absence of an intermediary a condition.

ٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ فِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ — "they have made themselves great within themselves."

The qualifier must be recorded: fī anfusihim — the self-magnifying is named not as an outward behaviour but as something taking place inside. The same placement was treated at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/56 (in fī ṣudūrihim illā kibr); I rely on that treatment.

عَتَوْ عُتُوًّا كَبِيرًا — root ع-ت-و: to overstep the limit; to dry out and harden. The lexicographers record for the root the sense of "a plant drying out and stiffening".

"We shall take up every deed they did and make of it scattered motes of dust."

هَبَآء — the fine dust that floats in the air and is seen in a shaft of sunlight.

The word had occurred at al-Wāqiʿa 56/6: fa-kānat habāʾan munbaththā — there it was used of the mountains. The two verses can be set side by side:

The same word, once for the heaviest body and once for the most abstract thing. This is an overlap that can be verified across the sūras, and I record it as my own reading thus: the word describes a thing that has not lost its visibility but has become impossible to hold — that is, not annihilation but not remaining in the hand.

أَصْحَٰبُ ٱلْجَنَّةِ يَوْمَئِذٍ خَيْرٌ مُّسْتَقَرًّا وَأَحْسَنُ مَقِيلًا (24) — maqīl: the place where one rests at midday. The word states the halt taken at the hottest hour of the day. For an addressee who lives in the desert, this is the most concrete description of ease there is.

"On that day the wrongdoer will bite his hands and say: 'Would that I had taken a way together with the Messenger! Woe to me! Would that I had not taken so-and-so as a friend!'"

يَعَضُّ عَلَىٰ يَدَيْهِ — to bite one's hands: the bodily expression of regret. In Arabic the idiom is named together with anger and helplessness.

فُلَانًا — "so-and-so". The word stands in for a pronoun, used of someone whose name is not spoken.

I record this as an observation, and its ground is the word itself: the verse gives no name. The sentence thereby becomes readable for any friendship at all — and indeed the accounts of particular incidents transmitted in the classical commentaries do not remove that generality.

خَلِيل — root خ-ل-ل: the sense the lexicographers give is love working its way into the interstices (khilāl) of the heart. That is, a khalīl is not a companion at the surface — he is a friend who has got inside.

The same reversal was treated at al-Zukhruf 43/67 (al-akhillāʾu yawmaʾidhin baʿḍuhum li-baʿḍin ʿaduww), and it had also occurred at al-Aḥqāf 46/6. Three sūras describe the same reversal: friendship turned inside out.

وَكَانَ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ لِلْإِنسَٰنِ خَذُولًا — khadhūl: one who leaves another alone, who abandons him at the very moment of need. An intensive form.

"The Messenger said: 'My Lord! My people have left this Qurʾān abandoned.'"

مَهْجُور — root ه-ج-ر: to part, to abandon, to leave and go. Hijra is from the same root. The root was treated at al-Muzzammil 73/10 (wa'hjurhum hajran jamīlā) and at al-Muddaththir 74/5. I do not repeat it here.

The word's use here is worth recording, and two readings of it are transmitted:

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

And the one to whom the complaint is addressed must be recorded: the sentence is spoken from the Prophet's mouth, to his Lord. Not to people. I record this as an observation: in the sūra the objections (4-8) were voiced openly by people; the answer here is directed upward, as a complaint.

"Thus for every prophet We appointed an enemy from among the guilty. Your Lord suffices as a guide and as a helper."

The verse comes immediately after the complaint in the thirtieth verse (inna qawmi'ttakhadhū hādha'l-qurʾāna mahjūrā) and is built as a consolation.

And the form of the consolation must be recorded: the situation is not removed — it is generalised. Li-kulli nabiyyin ʿaduwwā.

The same method was treated at Fāṭir 35/4 and at 35/25 (wa in yukadhdhibūka fa-qad kudhdhibat rusulun min qablik), and it had occurred at al-Aḥqāf 46/9 (mā kuntu bidʿan mina'r-rusul). Three sūras build the same structure: what is being lived through is met by being set into a series.

وَكَفَىٰ بِرَبِّكَ هَادِيًا وَنَصِيرًا — two nouns: the one who guides and the one who helps.

I record this as an observation: having stated that the enmity exists, the verse answers two distinct needs — the way (hādī) and support (naṣīr). That is, both direction and strength.

"Those who disbelieve said: 'Should not the Qurʾān have been sent down upon him all at once, as a single whole?' Thus — that We might make your heart firm by it; and We recited it slowly, in an ordered measure. Whenever they bring you an example, We bring you the truth and a finer exposition."

The objection is a claim of deficiency: it did not come down as a whole. And the answer gives two grounds:

رَتَّلَ — root ر-ت-ل: the even, well-spaced set of the teeth. From this comes the sense ordered, spaced, unhurried. The root was treated at al-Muzzammil 73/4 (wa rattili'l-qurʾāna tartīlā). I do not repeat it here.

The comparison of the two verses is worth recording:

The same root, once as a command and once as a statement. I record this as an observation: the manner of the reciting resembles the manner of the descent.

وَأَحْسَنَ تَفْسِيرًا — the word tafsīr occurs in the Qurʾān only here.

The root ف-س-ر: to open, to lift the covering from a thing and make it plain. The lexicographers record the root's relation to what is examined in order to learn a patient's condition (tafsira) — that is, looking inside and bringing the condition to light.

I record this as an observation: the word that gives this commentary its name occurs in the Qurʾān in a single place, and in the construct "the finest exposition". And the build of the sentence states a method: against every example brought, both ḥaqq and tafsīr are given — that is, both what is true and the exposition of it.

"Those who will be gathered to Hell upon their faces… To each We gave examples, and each We shattered utterly."

The block names several peoples briefly: the people of Noah (Nūḥ) (37), ʿĀd, Thamūd, the Companions of al-Rass, and qurūnan bayna dhālika kathīrā (38).

There is no certain knowledge about the Companions of al-Rass — the same note was entered at Qāf 50/12. I rely on that treatment, and I transmit no report.

وَكُلًّا ضَرَبْنَا لَهُ ٱلْأَمْثَٰلَ — "to each We gave examples."

I record this as an observation: into the middle of the list of destructions is set what was done before the destruction. And the same principle was treated at Fāṭir 35/24 (wa in min ummatin illā khalā fīhā nadhīr) and at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/59 (wa mā kāna rabbuka muhlika'l-qurā ḥattā yabʿatha fī ummihā rasūlā). Three sūras lay down the same condition.

تَبَّرْنَا تَتْبِيرًا — root ت-ب-ر: to break into small pieces, to reduce to fragments. Tibr — unworked, scattered particles of gold.

"They have surely come upon the town that was rained upon with an evil rain. Did they not see it?"

The location of the proof is worth recording: the ruin lies on the road.

The same proof was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/27 (mā ḥawlakum mina'l-qurā) and at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/21, 40/82. The difference here: the verse says they came upon it — that is, they passed beside it.

I record this as my own reading: the proof does not even require searching; it is the act of seeing itself that is asked about. A-fa-lam yakūnū yarawnahā.

The sentence of mockery must be recorded: a-hādha'lladhī baʿatha'llāhu rasūlā — "Is this the one God has sent as a messenger?"

And the demonstrative pronoun (hādhā) is used. The objection in the seventh verse of the sūra had also begun with the same pronoun: mā li-hādha'r-rasūl. Both sentences of mockery are built on the same pointing. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

إِن كَادَ لَيُضِلُّنَا عَنْ ءَالِهَتِنَا لَوْلَآ أَن صَبَرْنَا عَلَيْهَا (42) — "had we not held fast to them, he would almost have turned us away from our gods."

I record this as an observation: in the sentence the word ṣabr occurs in the sense of holding out, and in the mouth of the opposing side. And in the twentieth verse of the sūra the same root was a question directed at those addressed: a-taṣbirūn. The same word, on two sides and at two different jobs.

"Have you seen the one who has taken his own craving as his god? Will you then be a guardian over him?"

This sentence is almost identical with al-Jāthiya 45/23, and it was treated in detail there — in particular the two readings of the construct ilāhahū hawāhu (which of the two is the object) were set out in a table. I do not repeat it here.

The difference here must be recorded: in al-Jāthiya what followed the sentence went on to the sealing; here what follows is a limit of responsibility: a-fa-anta takūnu ʿalayhi wakīlā.

The same word was treated at al-Zumar 39/41 (wa mā anta ʿalayhim bi-wakīl). And at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/56 the table of this limit across seven sūras was given; this verse is added to that table.

كَٱلْأَنْعَٰمِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ سَبِيلًا — the comparison was treated at Muḥammad 47/12, and it was recorded there: the animal's eating is not blamed; what is described is a human being's contenting himself with just that much. I rely on that treatment.

And the ground for the addition bal hum aḍallu sabīlā is worth recording: an animal has no way from which it might stray. The comparison looks at a capacity given and left unused. I give this as my own reading.

"Have you not seen how your Lord stretched out the shadow? Had He willed, He would have made it still. Then We made the sun a proof for it; then We drew it in to Ourselves, little by little."

The choice of the proof is worth recording, and I give it as my own reading: a shadow is a thing that has no existence of its own. It cannot be grasped, it cannot be measured; it exists only through the existence of something else. The verse makes precisely this into a proof.

وَلَوْ شَآءَ لَجَعَلَهُۥ سَاكِنًا — "had He willed, He would have made it still."

Sākin — motionless. That is, the movement of the shadow is named not as something of itself but as the result of an ordering.

ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا ٱلشَّمْسَ عَلَيْهِ دَلِيلًا — "We made the sun a proof for it."

The build of the sentence looks inverted, and the lexicographers dwell on it: what one expects is that the shadow should be the proof of the sun. The verse says the reverse: the sun is the proof of the shadow.

I record this as an observation: where a shadow falls is known by looking at where the sun is. That is, when one wishes to read the shadow, the place to look is not the shadow itself — it is its source.

قَبْضًا يَسِيرًا — "a drawing in slowly, by small degrees". Yasīr — easy, little by little. The shadow's withdrawal over the course of the day is described not as a sudden removal but as a taking back that goes unnoticed.

Three words, three distinct functions:

This triad was treated at al-Nabaʾ 78/9-11 (wa jaʿalnā nawmakum subātā wa jaʿalna'l-layla libāsā wa jaʿalna'n-nahāra maʿāshā). I do not repeat it here.

The difference here must be recorded: in al-Nabaʾ the day was named maʿāsh (livelihood); in al-Furqān it is called nushūr (spreading out / resurrection). And nushūr is at the same time the name of the resurrection — that is, the day is named as a small resurrection repeated every morning.

"Had We willed, We would have sent a warner to every town. So do not obey those who disbelieve, and strive against them with it, with a great striving."

The pronoun in the sentence must be recorded: bihī — "with it".

The lexicographers generally give the Qurʾān as the referent of the pronoun — and indeed its nearest referent is the book that has been spoken of since the thirty-second verse.

I record this as an observation, and its ground is that a pronoun goes to its nearest referent: what is shown as the instrument of the struggle is the text itself. And the qualifier is kept large: jihādan kabīrā.

The root ج-ه-د was treated at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/6 and 29/69 (to expend strength, to go to the end of one's capacity) — it was set out in a table there that the root binds the two ends of that sūra. I rely on that treatment.

And its connection with the fifty-first verse is worth recording: that a separate warner was not sent to every town enlarges the scope of a single warner's effort. Read together, the two verses make the ground for the qualifier "a great striving" visible. I give this as my own reading.

"It is He who let the two seas run free: this one is sweet and quenches thirst, that one is salt and bitter. Between the two He has set a barrier, a boundary not to be crossed."

مَرَجَ — root م-ر-ج: to let go, to set free (as one lets an animal loose in pasture); and to mix. The lexicographers record both branches of the sense.

The same verb occurred at al-Raḥmān 55/19-20 (maraja'l-baḥrayni yaltaqiyān · baynahumā barzakhun lā yabghiyān) and was treated there. I do not repeat it here.

And at Fāṭir 35/12 the same two waters had been named with the words ujāj and ʿadhb furāt; there they were compared with al-Wāqiʿa 56/70. Three sūras use the same phenomenon within three different frames:

بَرْزَخ — the veil between two things, the zone that lies between. In the index the word is analysed here for the first time (if it occurred in al-Raḥmān, the note there is relied on): the lexicographers state that the word is a separator which comes between two things and prevents them from mixing.

حِجْرًا مَّحْجُورًا — two words from the same root (ح-ج-ر): "a forbidden forbidding", that is, absolutely impassable. In Arabic this repetition states emphasis.

The root was treated in al-Ḥujurāt on the occasion of the sūra's name (to forbid, to separate; ḥijr, ḥajar, ḥujra). I rely on that treatment.

وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ مِنَ ٱلْمَآءِ بَشَرًا فَجَعَلَهُۥ نَسَبًا وَصِهْرًا (54) — "It is He who created a human being from water and gave him ties of lineage and of marriage."

Two bonds must be recorded: nasab — kinship that comes by birth; ṣihr — kinship established by marriage.

I record this as an observation, and its ground is the order of the verses: the preceding verse described two waters that do not mix; this verse describes two lines that are joined. The two verses stand side by side, the one ordering separation and the other union.

"Setting God aside, they serve what can neither profit nor harm them… We sent you only as a bringer of good news and as a warner. Say: 'I ask you no wage for this; only, let whoever wills take a way to his Lord.'"

ظَهِير — root ظ-ه-ر: the back; one who supports, who backs another up.

The lexicographers differ over the meaning of the construct:

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

The fifty-seventh verse, in refusing the demand for a wage, sets up an exception, and the content of the exception is worth recording:

Illā man shāʾa an yattakhidha ilā rabbihī sabīlā — "only that whoever wills should take a way to his Lord."

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the kind of thing the exception is: what is asked for is not something that leaves the hand of the one who gives it. What is counted as the wage is to the benefit of the one who pays it. That is, the exception, having refused the demand, turns it into a different kind of thing.

The same structure was treated at al-Shūrā 42/23 (lā asʾalukum ʿalayhi ajran illa'l-mawaddata fi'l-qurbā), and the disagreement was set out in a table there. I rely on that treatment; both verses use the same pattern (lā asʾalukum … illā).

وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَٰكَ إِلَّا مُبَشِّرًا وَنَذِيرًا — two attributes: a bringer of good news and a warner. The same pair was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/12 (li-yundhira … wa bushrā): the same text does two distinct jobs according to the one addressed. And the limit is drawn by these two jobs — a link in the line of responsibility set out in a table at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/56.

"Put your trust in the Living who does not die… He is al-Raḥmān; ask one who knows about Him. When they are told 'Prostrate yourselves to al-Raḥmān', they say, 'And what is al-Raḥmān?'"

ٱلْحَىِّ ٱلَّذِى لَا يَمُوتُ — the name al-Ḥayy was treated at al-Baqara 2/255 (al-Ḥayyu'l-Qayyūm). The addition here must be recorded: alladhī lā yamūt — the attribute is reinforced by a negation.

And the choice of this attribute as the ground of trust is worth recording: that what is trusted should be lasting. I give this as an observation: the measure of the place one leans on is given not as its strength but as its duration.

The objection in the sixtieth verse is worth recording: the opposing side asks not about the prostration but about the name.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the form of the question: wa ma'r-Raḥmān — "And what is al-Raḥmān?" The question is built with mā (what), not with man (who).

In this part of the sūra the name al-Raḥmān gathers thickly (59, 60, 63), and in the sixty-third verse the description of the servants of that name will begin. That is, the sūra takes the name that has been refused and answers by describing its servants. This is a structure that can be verified within the sūra.

وَزَادَهُمْ نُفُورًا — nufūr: to take fright and flee. The root was treated at Fāṭir 35/42, and it was recorded there: the warning does not remain without effect; it has its effect in the opposite direction. I rely on that treatment.

"Blessed is He who set constellations in the sky and placed in it a lamp and an illuminating moon! And it is He who made the night and the day follow one after the other: for whoever wishes to take heed or wishes to give thanks."

بُرُوج — treated in al-Burūj on the occasion of the sūra's name (the root's sense of "a visible, high structure"). I do not repeat it here.

خِلْفَة — root خ-ل-ف: to come one after another, the one taking the other's place. The root was treated at Fāṭir 35/39 (khalāʾif).

And the ground the sentence gives must be recorded: li-man arāda an yadhdhakkara aw arāda shukūrā.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the repetition of the verb: arāda (he willed) occurs twice — once for remembering, once for thanks. That is, the alternation of night and day is offered as an opportunity: an order in which one who has missed it can make it up. And both verbs state will: the order works the same for everyone, and the benefit from it is tied to wanting it.

"The servants of al-Raḥmān are those who walk upon the earth in humility; and when the ignorant address them, they say, 'peace'."

From the sixty-third verse to the end the sūra gives a list of attributes, and the first item on the list is walking.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the seventh verse of the sūra: there the objection raised against the Prophet was wa yamshī fi'l-aswāq (he walks about in the markets). The sūra takes the very act the objection was about and makes it the first attribute of the servants of al-Raḥmān. And in the twentieth verse that same act had been set down as the rule for all messengers.

Three occurrences, one verb. This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra.

هَوْنًا — root ه-و-ن: softness, gravity of bearing; and lightness. The lexicographers explain the word here as a walk without arrogance, a calm walk.

The same field was treated at Luqmān 31/18-19 (lā tamshi fi'l-arḍi maraḥā · wa'qṣid fī mashyik). Two sūras tie walking to a measure: the one as a prohibition, the other as an attribute.

قَالُوا۟ سَلَٰمًا — the same stance was treated at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/55 (salāmun ʿalaykum lā nabtaghi'l-jāhilīn), and the three-part answer was set out in a table there. I rely on that treatment.

And the difference here must be recorded: the answer has come down to a single word. In al-Qaṣaṣ there were three clauses; in al-Furqān only salāmā.

The sixty-seventh verse is worth recording: in spending, both extremes are refused at once — isrāf (going beyond the measure) and iqtār (stinting).

The root ق-ت-ر: to narrow, to stint. The root occurred in ʿAbasa (wa wujūhun yawmaʾidhin ʿalayhā ghabaratun tarhaquhā qataratun) in a different branch.

قَوَام — root ق-و-م: that which stands upright, that which holds the balance. The word states the point between the two extremes.

The root qaṣd (keeping to the middle way) was treated at Fāṭir 35/32 and at Luqmān 31/19, 31/32. This verse gives the same measure with a different root, and it is read together with the measure set down at al-Baqara 2/219 (quli'l-ʿafw — what is surplus to need).

"They do not call upon another god together with God; they do not kill the soul God has made inviolable, save by right; and they do not commit fornication… Except for the one who repents, believes and does a righteous deed: for those, God changes their evil deeds into good ones."

Three grave acts are enumerated, and an exception follows them. And the scope of the exception must be recorded: it covers all three.

يُبَدِّلُ ٱللَّهُ سَيِّـَٔاتِهِمْ حَسَنَٰتٍ — "He changes their evil deeds into good ones."

The root ب-د-ل: to put one thing in the place of another. The root was treated at al-Wāqiʿa 56/61 (an nubaddila amthālakum).

I record this as an observation: the sentence does not speak of erasing — it speaks of exchanging. That is, the past is not lifted away; the column it is entered in is changed.

And the same line was treated at al-Zumar 39/53 (lā taqnaṭū min raḥmati'llāhi inna'llāha yaghfiru'dh-dhunūba jamīʿā). The two verses are read together: the one forbids despair, the other states what the return receives in exchange.

وَمَن تَابَ وَعَمِلَ صَٰلِحًا فَإِنَّهُۥ يَتُوبُ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ مَتَابًا (71) — and the return itself is reinforced once more, by the absolute object.

"They do not bear witness to falsehood; and when they pass by idle talk, they pass by with dignity. When the signs of their Lord are recalled to them, they do not fall down upon them deaf and blind. And they say: 'Our Lord! Grant us, of our spouses and our offspring, a coolness of the eyes; and make us a leader for those who guard themselves.'"

The root ل-غ-و was analysed at al-Wāqiʿa 56/25, and it occurred at Fuṣṣilat 41/26 as a tactic and at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/55 as a response. The fourth link is here.

And the verb here is worth recording: marrū kirāmā — "they passed by with dignity".

I record this as my own reading: the verse describes neither stopping nor quarrelling. A qualifier is set beside the verb "to pass": kirām. That is, the matter is how one passes by idle talk.

The build of the sentence is striking, and the lexicographers dwell on it: what is negated is not falling down — it is falling down deaf and blind.

That is, the verse does not refuse falling prostrate before the signs; it enters the qualifier ṣumman wa ʿumyānā. I record this as an observation about the word order: the acceptance is granted, but how it is made is laid down as a condition.

إِمَام — this word was treated at al-Qaṣaṣ 28/5 and 28/41, and it was set out in a table there that the same word is used in two opposite directions (the weak being made leaders / leaders who call to the fire). I rely on that treatment.

The difference here must be recorded: it is inside a prayer that the word occurs — what is asked for is leadership. And a qualifier is entered: li'l-muttaqīn — a leader for those who guard themselves.

I record this as my own reading: what is asked for is not a position but a particular function within a particular community. It was recorded in al-Qaṣaṣ that leadership on its own states no value; this prayer carries that qualification within itself.

قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ — "a coolness of the eyes". The lexicographers explain the idiom by the eye's coming to rest in one place and not straying elsewhere: qarra — to settle, to become fixed. That is, the eye's settling in peace upon one place.

"Say: 'Were it not for your calling upon Him, why would my Lord give you any weight?'"

يَعْبَؤُا۟ — root ع-ب-أ: to give weight to a thing, to take it into account. The lexicographers record the word with the senses "to load a burden, to attach importance".

The lexicographers differ over how the verse is to be understood:

I transmit the disagreement; I do not impose a preference.

And the sūra's closing with this sentence is worth recording: the sūra had opened with objections (4-8) — the ordinariness of the messenger, the expectation of wealth and of an angel. At the close, the worth of a human being is tied not to anything he possesses but to his calling.

I record this as my own reading; its ground is the two ends of the sūra.