وَإِذَا وَقَعَ ٱلْقَوْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ أَخْرَجْنَا لَهُمْ دَآبَّةً مِّنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ تُكَلِّمُهُمْ أَنَّ ٱلنَّاسَ كَانُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا لَا يُوقِنُونَ
wa idhā waqaʿa'l-qawlu ʿalayhim akhrajnā lahum dābbatan mina'l-arḍi tukallimuhum anna'n-nāsa kānū bi-āyātinā lā yūqinūn
"When the word falls upon them, We shall bring forth for them a creature out of the earth, which will speak to them: that the people had no certainty about Our signs."
A great many reports and interpretations circulate about this verse. Per the method (Method) I write this out plainly, and throughout this section I do not step outside this limit:
- There is no certain knowledge about what this dābba is, where or when it will come forth, or how it will appear.
- Some of the reports transmitted on this subject are disputed within the tradition of hadith criticism. I ascribe no saying I am not sure of to any source, and I do not pile up reports.
- I do not enter into the interpretations loaded onto this verse in the modern period — technology, an epidemic, a particular invention or event. These are claims with no ground in the text, and they are readings of the kind Method forbids.
- I fix no date, no place and no identity.
The root د-ب-ب. The word was worked out in al-Jāthiya at 45/4, and the finding there was this: dābba — that which moves, that which stirs upon the earth. And it was recorded there plainly: the word is not the name of a species; it means a living thing that moves. The Qurʾān uses this word to name living things by their movement. I do not repeat it; I rely on that treatment.
The consequence of that finding here is direct and must be recorded: the word, as it stands in the verse, specifies no species.
And that the word comes indefinite reinforces this: dābbatan — "a creature." The text gives neither its kind nor any known instance of it.
And a caution was recorded in Sabaʾ at 34/14 which applies directly here; I rely on that treatment: the construction dābbatu'l-arḍ in that verse must not be confused with dābbatan mina'l-arḍ in this one. The two constructions differ, their contexts differ, and neither can be read through the other.
| No. | Expression | What it reports |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | idhā waqaʿa'l-qawlu ʿalayhim | The time — when the word falls |
| 2 | akhrajnā lahum dābbatan mina'l-arḍ | The place — out of the earth |
| 3 | tukallimuhum | The act — it speaks to them |
| 4 | anna'n-nāsa kānū bi-āyātinā lā yūqinūn | What it will say |
Beyond these four the verse says nothing. I record what it does not say as well: the creature's kind, its size, its number, its duration, the place of its coming forth, and what event its time will fall together with.
| Verse | Expression | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 82 | wa idhā waqaʿa'l-qawlu ʿalayhim | The coming forth of the creature |
| 85 | wa waqaʿa'l-qawlu ʿalayhim bimā ẓalamū | Their falling silent |
The same construction, three verses apart. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.
Different explanations of what the construction means are transmitted in the classical commentaries:
| Reading | What waqaʿa'l-qawl is |
|---|---|
| 1 | The fulfilment of the word of punishment — the sentence taking effect |
| 2 | The coming of the appointed time — the approach of the Last Day |
| 3 | The completion of the proof — the word becoming due upon them |
A variant reading is transmitted on this word, and since it bears on the meaning it must be recorded:
| Reading | Root | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| tukallimuhum | ك-ل-م (Form II) | It speaks to them — it utters words |
| taklimuhum | ك-ل-م (Form I) | It wounds them, it marks them — kalm: a wound |
I record an observation, not a preference: what follows in the verse gives the content of an utterance (anna'n-nāsa kānū…). This appears to agree better with the first reading. But the second has been defended as well, and the two readings do not exclude each other.
| Verse | Expression | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | wa hum bi'l-ākhirati hum yūqinūn | The believers — at the sūra's opening |
| 14 | wa'stayqanathā anfusuhum | Those who deny — their inner selves know |
| 82 | kānū bi-āyātinā lā yūqinūn | The people — the creature's utterance |
Three occurrences; the sūra opens with this root and gives its ruling once more with the same root. This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the table above: what the verse reports is not a creature's coming forth but a creature's speaking, and what it says. And what it will say is the absence of the very word set at the sūra's third verse as the believers' attribute.
| Verse | Who speaks | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | An ant | It speaks, it warns — and it is heard |
| 22-26 | A bird | It brings news — and it is listened to |
| 82 | A creature | It speaks, it declares a verdict — and the matter is over |
| 85 | Human beings | lā yanṭiqūn — they cannot speak |
In the sūra, speech passes not from the creatures to the human being but from the human being to the creatures.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the sequence of the four verses: the sūra takes its name from the speech of an ant, and it closes that line with human beings unable to speak. This is a weave in the text; it is not a claim about the nature of the dābba.