أَمَّن يُجِيبُ ٱلْمُضْطَرَّ إِذَا دَعَاهُ وَيَكْشِفُ ٱلسُّوٓءَ وَيَجْعَلُكُمْ خُلَفَآءَ ٱلْأَرْضِ أَءِلَٰهٌ مَّعَ ٱللَّهِ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَذَكَّرُونَ
am man yujību'l-muḍṭarra idhā daʿāhu wa yakshifu's-sūʾa wa yajʿalukum khulafāʾa'l-arḍ, a-ilāhun maʿa'llāh, qalīlan mā tadhakkarūn
"Or He who answers the one in dire need when he calls upon Him, and removes the harm, and makes you successors in the earth? Is there a god beside God? How little you reflect!"
This word stands at the centre of the sequence of five questions and deserves to be treated in detail.
The concrete sense of the root: ḍarr — harm, distress, a state that breaks the working of a thing. The root occurred in the discussion of Luqmān at 31/6 and in al-Baqara.
| Pattern | Word | What it conveys |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal noun | ḍarr | Harm — the fact |
| Form VIII verbal noun | iḍṭirār | Being forced — being driven into helplessness |
| Form VIII passive participle | muḍṭarr | One who has been forced — left without recourse |
The most important property of the pattern is that it faces the passive, and I record this as my own reading: muḍṭarr is not one who falls into distress of himself but one who has been pressed into it. The word is thus not a state but the end of a being driven.
The lexicographers describe the word thus, and I transmit it as a report: one who has no other door left to him. Indeed the same word is used in the language of law for "a person in a state of necessity".
And how the word comes in this verse must be recorded: al-muḍṭarr — definite, that is, as a class. The one who is answered is not a particular person but anyone in that condition.
The same fact was treated twice, and set out in a table, in al-ʿAnkabūt at 29/65 and in Luqmān at 31/32. The summary was this: a person who boards a ship, or who is covered over by the waves, calls upon Him making his religion sincerely His alone; once ashore, in Luqmān some of them take a middle course, and in al-ʿAnkabūt they associate partners with Him.
| Luqmān 31/32 | al-ʿAnkabūt 29/65 | al-Naml 27/62 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who | Those at sea | Those on the ship | al-muḍṭarr — in general |
| The situation | ghashiyahum mawj | rakibū fi'l-fulk | idhā daʿāh — when he calls |
| Direction of the telling | The human act — he calls | The human act — he calls | The divine act — He answers |
| The outcome | fa-minhum muqtaṣid | idhā hum yushrikūn | wa yakshifu's-sūʾ |
And the difference here is recorded as my own reading, its ground being the third row of the table: Luqmān and al-ʿAnkabūt told the same fact as a human behaviour — and both ended in criticism. Al-Naml tells the same fact from the other side, from the side that answers, and builds not a criticism but a proof.
The three sūras thus record the same truth: when a person is left without recourse he turns to Him alone. The difference lies in what this truth is used for:
| Sūra | What the same fact is used for |
|---|---|
| Luqmān 31/32 | A diagnosis of inconsistency — changing once delivered |
| al-ʿAnkabūt 29/65 | The same diagnosis, sharper |
| al-Naml 27/62 | A proof — that there is one who answers |
And a distinction on this matter was recorded in al-Dukhān at 44/12-15, and it applies directly here; I rely on that treatment: turning to God in a moment of distress is not what the verses criticise — what is criticised is the break between the reason for the turning and its outcome. And this very verse was cited there as evidence.
The root خ-ل-ف: to come after someone, to take his place. The root was treated in Ṣād at 38/26 and in Fāṭir at 35/39. I do not repeat it here.
| No. | Expression | The human position |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | yujību'l-muḍṭarr | At the weakest — without recourse |
| 2 | wa yakshifu's-sūʾ | The lifting of the distress |
| 3 | wa yajʿalukum khulafāʾa'l-arḍ | At the most authoritative — holding sway in the earth |
Three clauses carry the human being from the lowest point to the highest position — and the subject of all three is the same.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the three clauses stand in a single chain of verbs: the verse ties helplessness and authority to the same source. Succession is thus named not as the opposite of helplessness but as a second condition coming from the same hand.
The close of the preceding verse was lā yaʿlamūn ("they do not know"); the close of this one is qalīlan mā tadhakkarūn ("you remember but little").
I record this as an observation about the word order, and the difference is meaningful: the condition of helplessness is not something unknown — everyone has lived through it. For this reason the verse speaks not of ignorance but of failing to remember.
And the change of person must be recorded: the preceding sentences used the third person (aktharuhum); here it passes to the second person (tadhakkarūn). This is iltifāt, and it occurs at precisely the most personal item. I record this as an observation about the word order.
When a person becomes muḍṭarr, he sees which of the supports that carry him in everyday life are not really supports at all. And the verse does not make this moment a matter of criticism — it records it as evidence.
What is to be recorded is the closing sentence: qalīlan mā tadhakkarūn. The matter is thus not the living through of that moment but the remembering of it once it has passed. I give this as my own reading; its ground is the verse's own close.