28. Sūrat al-Qaṣaṣ

88 verses. It is widely reported that it was revealed in the Meccan period. It takes its name from the word ٱلْقَصَص in verse 25: the account that is related, the story.

The sūra opens with one root and closes with the same root:

And the same pair occurs in both verses: ʿuluww and fasād. The fourth verse describes Pharaoh as mina'l-mufsidīn (one of those who work corruption); the eighty-third gives the abode to those who want neither ʿuluww nor fasād. This is a link that can be verified from the text, and it frames every story the sūra tells.

"Ṭā-sīn-mīm… Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and divided its people into factions: he was making one group among them weak, slaughtering their sons and sparing their women. But We were willing to show favour to those made weak in the land, to make them leaders, and to make them the heirs."

The note on the disconnected letters has been entered many times in this series; I do not repeat it here.

The root ش-ي-ع: to spread, to attach oneself to one side. Shīʿa — the body of partisans that gathers around a person. The plural comes here as shiyaʿ: factions, separate groups.

I record this as an observation: the verse describes what Pharaoh did with three verbs, and the first of them is dividing. That is, oppression does not begin with direct force; it begins by breaking the community into pieces — and only in a divided community can one section be set apart and made mustaḍʿaf.

يَسْتَضْعِفُ — root ض-ع-ف, Form X: to reckon someone weak and to make him weak. The pattern matters: weakness is not something that happens of itself but something that is done.

And the verse sets two verbs side by side: yudhabbiḥu abnāʾahum wa yastaḥyī nisāʾahum — to kill the sons, to spare the women. The second looks at first sight like mercy; but within the whole of the sentence it stands as a method for cutting off the continuation of a people.

The fifth verse is set directly opposite the fourth, and the tense must be recorded: wa nurīdu — the imperfect.

That is, the imperfect had been used for Pharaoh's acts as well (yudhabbiḥu, yastaḥyī). Both sides are shown within a work that is still going on. I record this as an observation about the word order: the sūra brings two wills onto the stage at the same time and in the same tense.

أَئِمَّة — the plural of imām; root أ-م-م: to go in front, one who is followed. The root was treated in al-Aḥqāf at 46/12 (kitābu Mūsā imāman).

And the content of the promise is worth recording: those made weak are not merely rescued — they are made leaders and heirs. That is, the promise is a reversal of position.

"We made this known to the mother of Moses: 'Suckle him. When you fear for him, cast him into the water. Do not fear and do not grieve; We shall return him to you.'… And the heart of Moses' mother was left quite empty; had We not steadied her heart, she would almost have disclosed him."

There are five things in what was made known to the mother, and their order is worth recording:

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the order: the riskiest command — casting the child into the water — stands in the middle, and before it comes the condition, after it the consolation and the promise. That is, the command is not left bare.

وَلَا تَخَافِى وَلَا تَحْزَنِى — the two verbs look to two different times: khawf to what is coming, ḥuzn to what has passed. This pair was treated in al-Aḥqāf at 46/13 and in Fuṣṣilat at 41/30; I rely on that treatment.

فُؤَاد — root ف-ء-د: the burning of embers; the kindled, moving side of the heart. The root was treated in al-Wāqiʿa, al-Najm and in al-Aḥqāf at 46/26.

فَارِغ — empty. The lexicographers give differing explanations for this construction: emptied of everything so as to hold nothing but the child, or left without the strength to bear it.

رَبَطْنَا عَلَىٰ قَلْبِهَا — rabṭ: to bind, to fasten tight. The idiom means holding the heart in its place, keeping it from scattering.

I record this as an observation: the two words together build one picture — a vessel that empties and a heart that is bound fast. And fuʾād and qalb occur in the same verse as two distinct words: the one empties, the other is bound.

وَحَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِ ٱلْمَرَاضِعَ مِن قَبْلُ — "We had already forbidden him the wet-nurses."

And the knot of the story is here: that the child would take no wet-nurse becomes the cause that carries him back to his mother. That is, the promise (innā rāddūhu ilayk) comes about through an ordinary chain of causes. I record this as my own reading.

"He entered the city at a moment when its people were unaware and found two men there fighting… Moses struck him with his fist and finished him. 'This is of Satan's doing,' he said… 'My Lord! I have wronged myself; forgive me,' he said."

The event is told without its outcome being hidden, and Moses' own assessment of it is transmitted as well: hādhā min ʿamali'sh-shayṭān, innī ẓalamtu nafsī.

I record this as an observation: the text does not cover over a grave event in the life of a prophet, and it has the assessment made by him. And the character of the event is named in the verse: not a deliberate killing but the unlooked-for result of an intervention. Wakaza — to strike with the fist; fa-qaḍā ʿalayh — he finished him.

And the meeting with the same man on the following day is worth recording (18-19): the one who asks for help is once again in a fight. What Moses says to him stands in the text: innaka la-ghawiyyun mubīn — "you are plainly one gone astray."

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the order of the verses: the story shows that the one who stands on the side of the wronged does not pass untested either. That is, being "made weak" does not of itself bring rightness of conduct — and this is a note set beside the promise in the fifth verse of the sūra.

وَجَآءَ رَجُلٌ مِّنْ أَقْصَا ٱلْمَدِينَةِ يَسْعَىٰ (20) — "and a man came running from the far end of the city."

The same pattern occurs in Yāsīn at 36/20 as well (wa jāʾa min aqṣa'l-madīnati rajulun yasʿā). In both places someone who is not named comes running and brings word of something. This is an overlap that can be verified from the text.

Wa lammā tawajjaha tilqāʾa Madyana qāla ʿasā rabbī an yahdiyanī sawāʾa's-sabīl

"When he turned towards Midian (Madyan) he said: 'It may be that my Lord will guide me to the even path.'"

The story is told with small and concrete details:

تَذُودَان — root ذ-و-د: to keep away, to drive back. The word describes holding the animals off from the water and making them wait.

I record this as an observation: the verse has the two women give the reason for their waiting in their own words, and the reason is practical: until the crowd disperses. That is, the scene is built as a scene of daily life before it gives any moral lesson.

ثُمَّ تَوَلَّىٰٓ إِلَى ٱلظِّلِّ فَقَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّى لِمَآ أَنزَلْتَ إِلَىَّ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَقِيرٌ — "My Lord! I stand in need of whatever good You may send down to me."

The prayer is worth recording: nothing is asked for — a need is stated. The root ف-ق-ر was analysed at Fāṭir 35/15 (faqar — the spine; faqīr — one whose spine is broken). I rely on that treatment.

"One of the two said: 'Father, hire him. The best of those you might hire is the one who is strong and trustworthy.'"

The sentence gives a measure, and the measure is made of two words:

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the two attributes come together: the one states capacity, the other safety, and neither is enough on its own. The one who is strong but not to be trusted, and the one who is trustworthy but not strong, both fail the measure.

And who it is that speaks must be recorded: the one who sets the measure is the one who has watched the scene from the beginning. That is, the judgement rests on observation — and indeed both attributes had been seen in the scene: drawing water from the well (strength) and his coming with his eyes lowered (trustworthiness).

I give this as a reading; the verse does not make the connection explicitly, but the order of the scene lends itself to it.

Fa-lammā qaḍā Mūsa'l-ajala wa sāra bi-ahlihī ānasa min jānibi'ṭ-Ṭūri nārā

"When Moses had completed the term and set out with his family, he made out a fire on the side of the Mount (al-Ṭūr)… When he came to it, he was called from the tree in the blessed spot on the right side of the valley: 'O Moses! I am God, the Lord of all beings.'"

ءَانَسَ — root أ-ن-س: to catch sight of and make out, to grow warm to. From the same root come ins (human being) and uns (closeness). The lexicographers record for the word the sense of sensing a light from a distance.

And what the fire was wanted for is stated in the verse: laʿallī ātīkum minhā bi-khabarin aw jadhwatin mina'n-nāri laʿallakum taṣṭalūn — word, or an ember to warm yourselves by. That is, he goes for an ordinary need.

I record this as an observation: the call comes not in a place that had been sought out — but on the road, at a point turned aside to for a daily need.

The verses give two signs, and fear is named with both:

وَلَمْ يُعَقِّبْ — taʿqīb: to turn back and look, to come back. That is, the flight is a complete flight.

وَٱضْمُمْ إِلَيْكَ جَنَاحَكَ مِنَ ٱلرَّهْبِ — "draw your wing in to yourself against the fear."

Janāḥ (wing), when it is used of a human being, means "the arm, the side" and the lexicographers explain this idiom as a person's gathering himself together, coming out of a shudder. They rest it on the picture of a bird that spreads its wings when startled and folds them again when it settles.

I transmit this as a connection the lexicographers make.

"My brother Aaron (Hārūn) is clearer of tongue than I am; send him with me as a support so that he may confirm me."

رِدْء — root ر-د-أ: a support, a helper who holds from behind. The lexicographers explain the word by a prop set behind something so that it does not topple over.

I record this as an observation: the request is not that the burden be shared — it is to be confirmed. Yuṣaddiqunī. And the ground given is practical: that the tongue is clearer.

سَنَشُدُّ عَضُدَكَ بِأَخِيكَ — "We shall strengthen your arm with your brother." ʿAḍud — the upper arm. Again a bodily picture: support is told as the strengthening of an arm.

Wa qāla Firʿawnu yā ayyuha'l-malaʾu mā ʿalimtu lakum min ilāhin ghayrī fa-awqid lī yā Hāmānu ʿala'ṭ-ṭīni fa'jʿal lī ṣarḥan laʿallī aṭṭaliʿu ilā ilāhi Mūsā

"Pharaoh said: 'O chiefs! I know of no god for you other than myself. Hāmān! Kindle a fire for me over the clay (bake brick) and build me a tower; perhaps I may climb up to the god of Moses.'"

The same demand occurred at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/36-37 as well, and was treated there. The two verses can be set side by side:

In al-Qaṣaṣ the stage of production is named as well. I record this as an observation: the demand is set out in detail as a work of architecture — and what was recorded in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) becomes still sharper here: the claim is turned into a problem of engineering.

مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرِى — "I know of no god for you other than myself."

The construction of the sentence must be recorded: mā ʿalimtu — "I do not know". The claim is built not as a judgement about what exists but upon the speaker's own knowledge. The same structure was treated at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/29: mā urīkum illā mā arā — "I show you only what I myself see."

And the sharpest point of word order in the sūra is here:

The same word, the same verbal pattern, two opposite directions. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

I record this as my own reading: the word imāma (leadership) states no value on its own. To be in front is a position; what is decisive is the place it calls to.

Wa mā kunta bi-jānibi'l-gharbiyyi idh qaḍaynā ilā Mūsa'l-amra wa mā kunta mina'sh-shāhidīn

"You were not on the western side when We decreed the command to Moses, nor were you among those who witnessed it."

The same pattern is repeated three times through the section:

Three times, "you were not there". This is a repetition that can be verified from the text.

I record this as an observation: the proof is built upon the source of the knowledge. And the same method had been treated at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/48 (wa mā kunta tatlū min qablihī min kitāb) — there it was the absence of reading and writing that was made the proof. The two sūras build the same proof by two different routes: the one from the absence of schooling, the other from the absence of witnessing.

وَلَٰكِنَّآ أَنشَأْنَا قُرُونًا فَتَطَاوَلَ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْعُمُرُ — tatāwala ʿalayhimu'l-ʿumur: a long time passed over them.

I give this as a record: the verse states the distance between plainly. That is, the knowledge cannot have come by an unbroken transmission — and the weight of the proof is born from this.

وَلَقَدْ وَصَّلْنَا لَهُمُ ٱلْقَوْلَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ (51) — the root و-ص-ل, Form II: to convey without interruption, by joining one thing to another.

The picture in the word is worth recording: the word was conveyed not at one stroke but link joined to link. And it stands in the same field as the concept of taṣrīf (turning a matter about and about in the telling) treated in al-Zukhruf and al-Jāthiya — the one states repetition, the other continuity.

"…They are given their reward twice over for their patience; they repel evil with good and spend of what We have provided for them. When they hear idle talk they turn away from it and say: 'Our deeds are ours and your deeds are yours. Peace be upon you; we do not seek out the ignorant.'"

This construction was treated at Fuṣṣilat 41/34 (idfaʿ bi'llatī hiya aḥsan) and had been carried into the field of argument at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/46. The third link is here.

The root د-ر-أ: to push, to drive back, to ward off. The lexicographers use the word especially for getting in front of something and blocking it.

Three sūras, three distinct roots, one method. This is a weave that can be verified from the text.

The root ل-غ-و was analysed in detail at al-Wāqiʿa 56/25 (speech that is not reckoned with, that goes for nothing) and had occurred at Fuṣṣilat 41/26 as a tactic (wa'lghaw fīh — make a noise over it). I do not repeat it here.

Here the same word comes in the context of a response, and the answer given is made of three parts:

I record this as my own reading: the answer is neither silence nor retaliation — it is a third way. And the salām in the middle of it keeps the separation from turning into enmity.

The use of salāmun ʿalaykum in this context stands on the same line as al-Zukhruf 43/89 (fa'ṣfaḥ ʿanhum wa qul salām) — there too a separation is sealed with a greeting of peace.

"You cannot guide whom you love; but God guides whom He wills."

This limit has been treated in many places in this series, and each sūra used a different word:

Six sūras, six distinct words. And what is worth recording in al-Qaṣaṣ: the limit is set upon love. Man aḥbabta — "the one you love."

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the choice of the verb: in the other verses it was an authority or a feeling that was being limited; here it is said that even the strongest bond does not produce the result. And this agrees with the general line of the sūra: the mother had cast her child into the water, and what brought about his return was not her love but the order of causes.

Wa qālū in nattabiʿi'l-hudā maʿaka nutakhaṭṭaf min arḍinā · A-wa-lam numakkin lahum ḥaraman āminan yujbā ilayhi thamarātu kulli shayʾ

"'If we follow the guidance with you, we shall be snatched away from our land,' they said. Have We not settled them in a safe sanctuary to which the fruits of all things are gathered?"

The same root (خ-ط-ف) and the same proof were treated at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/67. The two verses can be set side by side, and the relation between them is worth recording:

The same verb: in the one a fact that has come about, in the other a possibility that is feared. This is an overlap that can be verified from the text.

I record this as my own reading: the objection is built not upon belief but upon a concern for security — and the answer is given on the same plane: who established the place in which you are already safe? That is, protection is tied back to the source of the very thing that would be given up for the sake of protection.

وَمَا كَانَ رَبُّكَ مُهْلِكَ ٱلْقُرَىٰ حَتَّىٰ يَبْعَثَ فِىٓ أُمِّهَا رَسُولًا (59) — the condition of destruction: that a warner has been sent.

The same principle had been recorded at Fāṭir 35/24 (wa in min ummatin illā khalā fīhā nadhīr). The two sūras state the same principle from two directions: the one that a warner has been sent, the other that there is no destruction until one is sent.

وَمَآ أُوتِيتُم مِّن شَىْءٍ فَمَتَٰعُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتُهَا وَمَا عِندَ ٱللَّهِ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَىٰٓ (60) — and the block closes with a sentence that sets the measure back in its place.

Wa yawma yunādīhim fa-yaqūlu ayna shurakāʾiya'lladhīna kuntum tazʿumūn

"On that day He will call to them and say: 'Where are those you claimed were My partners?'"

The same sentence occurs three times in the sūra, and each time a different question is asked:

Three callings, two questions — and the first and the third are word for word the same. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

تَزْعُمُون — root ز-ع-م: to claim without ground. The lexicographers record that the word is used of speech whose truth is uncertain. That is, the question takes as its subject not the existence of the partners but the claim itself.

فَعَمِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْأَنۢبَآءُ يَوْمَئِذٍ فَهُمْ لَا يَتَسَآءَلُونَ (66) — "on that day the tidings will be closed off from them; they will not even be able to ask one another."

عَمِيَتْ — root ع-م-ي: blindness. The subject of the verb is al-anbāʾ (the tidings): what goes blind is not the person but the tidings themselves.

I record this as an observation about the word order: the sentence makes the knowledge unreachable — and makes the tidings the subject of the verb. And the result is that solidarity is cut off as well: fa-hum lā yatasāʾalūn — they cannot ask one another.

At Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/47 it was treated that the dispute continues in the fire; here what is told is that speech is cut off. The two scenes do not contradict each other — they tell of different moments.

"Your Lord creates what He wills and chooses; they have no choice."

The lexicographers dwell on the scope of the sentence, and the disagreement must not be concealed:

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

The first reading is closer to the context — because in this part of the sūra it is the messengers and the answer given to them that is being spoken of (65). I record this as a supporting indication, not as a preference.

And the same objection had been treated at al-Zukhruf 43/31-32 (law lā nuzzila hādha'l-qurʾānu ʿalā rajulin mina'l-qaryatayni ʿaẓīm) — there too the measure of the choosing was in dispute. The two sūras take up the same matter from two different places.

Qul a-raʾaytum in jaʿala'llāhu ʿalaykumu'l-layla sarmadan ilā yawmi'l-qiyāmati man ilāhun ghayru'llāhi yaʾtīkum bi-ḍiyāʾ … Qul a-raʾaytum in jaʿala'llāhu ʿalaykumu'n-nahāra sarmadan … man ilāhun ghayru'llāhi yaʾtīkum bi-laylin taskunūna fīh

"Say: 'If God had made the night unceasing over you until the Day of Resurrection, what god other than God would bring you light?' Say: 'If God had made the day unceasing over you until the Day of Resurrection, what god would bring you a night in which to rest?'"

سَرْمَد — unceasing, continuing without a break. The word occurs in the Qurʾān only in these two verses.

The two questions are exactly symmetrical, and what answers to each must be recorded:

I record this as an observation about the word order: what is asked for against the night is light — that is, sight; what is asked for against the day is stillness — that is, rest. Two distinct needs, in two distinct words.

And the expression taskunūna fīh is worth recording: the root س-ك-ن (sakīna) was treated at al-Fatḥ 48/4. Here the same root comes as the function of the night: coming to rest.

وَمِن رَّحْمَتِهِۦ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلَّيْلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ لِتَسْكُنُوا۟ فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ (73) — and the two questions close with a sentence that joins the two functions: rest and earning.

"We shall draw out a witness from every community and say: 'Bring your decisive proof!' Then they will know that the truth belongs to God, and that what they used to invent has vanished from them."

نَزَعْنَا — root ن-ز-ع: to pull out, to tear out. The harshness of the verb is worth recording: the witness is not summoned, he is drawn out.

بُرْهَان — decisive proof. The lexicographers describe the word as the proof that binds the other side and puts an end to the dispute.

And the form of the demand must be recorded: hātū burhānakum — "bring your proof".

This demand has been treated in several places in this series, and in all of them it comes from the same place:

Four sūras, one measure: a ground to rest on. This is a weave that can be verified from the text.

And the time of the demand is worth recording: the question asked in this world (al-Aḥqāf, Luqmān) is asked here on the day of the reckoning. That is, the measure does not change — what changes is the place where it is put. I record this as my own reading.

وَضَلَّ عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا۟ يَفْتَرُونَ — "what they used to invent vanished from them."

The same reversal was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/28 (bal ḍallū ʿanhum): the side that is called upon disappears. I rely on that treatment.

Inna Qārūna kāna min qawmi Mūsā fa-baghā ʿalayhim wa ātaynāhu mina'l-kunūzi mā inna mafātiḥahū la-tanūʾu bi'l-ʿuṣbati uli'l-quwwa

"Qārūn was of the people of Moses; he behaved outrageously towards them. We had given him treasures whose very keys a band of strong men could hardly carry."

The size of the wealth is not stated directly — it is given through one detail: mafātiḥahū la-tanūʾu bi'l-ʿuṣbati uli'l-quwwa.

The root ن-و-أ: to straighten up with difficulty under a weight, to be burdened in rising. That is, what is heavy is not the treasure — but its keys.

I record this as an observation: the measure is given from the most indirect place there is. And the reader is left obliged to imagine the treasure for himself.

"This was given me only because of a knowledge that is mine."

This sentence occurred at al-Zumar 39/49 in almost the same words (innamā ūtītuhū ʿalā ʿilm) and was treated there: forgetting the source, and then claiming to be the source oneself.

In al-Qaṣaṣ there is one word more: ʿindī. I record this as my own reading: the addition raises the ownership of the claim by one further degree — knowledge is named not merely as the cause but as a cause belonging to him.

The root خ-س-ف: to sink into the ground, to cave in. The root was treated at al-ʿAnkabūt 29/40 as one of four forms of destruction.

And the form of the destruction is worth recording: bihī wa bi-dārihī — himself and his house. That is, the place where the display was made is named along with him — for indeed in verse 79 it had been said fa-kharaja ʿalā qawmihī fī zīnatih (he went out before his people in his finery).

وَأَصْبَحَ ٱلَّذِينَ تَمَنَّوْا۟ مَكَانَهُۥ بِٱلْأَمْسِ يَقُولُونَ وَيْكَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَبْسُطُ ٱلرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ (82) — "those who the day before had wished themselves in his place began the next morning to say…"

I record this as an observation: the verse sets the wish of one day and the words of the next side by side. And the only thing that has changed in between is that the event has been seen.

Tilka'd-dāru'l-ākhiratu najʿaluhā li'lladhīna lā yurīdūna ʿuluwwan fi'l-arḍi wa lā fasādā wa'l-ʿāqibatu li'l-muttaqīn

"That is the abode of the hereafter! We give it to those who want neither exaltation in the land nor corruption. The outcome belongs to those who guard themselves."

This verse corresponds exactly to the fourth verse of the sūra — I set it out in a table in the section on the structure:

Both words are the same: ʿuluww and fasād. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.

And the choice of the verb is worth recording: lā yurīdūna — "those who do not want". That is, the measure is not the deed done — but the thing wanted. I give this as my own reading; its ground is that the verb states an act of will.

On the one side an increase, on the other exact equivalence. This is a difference that can be verified from the text.

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِى فَرَضَ عَلَيْكَ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ لَرَآدُّكَ إِلَىٰ مَعَادٍ (85) — "He who made the Qurʾān binding upon you will surely bring you back to a place of return."

What the word maʿād refers to has been disputed in the classical commentaries: the city of his birth, the hereafter, or the place of return in general. I transmit the disagreement; I do not impose a preference.

And the verb is worth recording: la-rādduka — "will bring you back". The same root (ر-د-د) had occurred in the seventh verse of the sūra, in the promise given to the mother: innā rāddūhu ilayk — "We shall return him to you."

The same root, at the two ends of the sūra, for two distinct returns. I record this as my own reading: the sūra begins with a promise of return and ends with a promise of return.

كُلُّ شَىْءٍ هَالِكٌ إِلَّا وَجْهَهُۥ (88) — "Everything is perishing except His face."

The note kept in this series about the word wajh (face) holds here too: the expression cannot be understood in a way that ascribes a limb or a body to God. The same note had been entered at al-Baqara 2/115 (fa-thamma wajhu'llāh); I rely on that treatment. It is transmitted that in the classical commentaries wajh is explained in the sense of "the essence" or "His good pleasure".

هَالِك — an active participle: "perishing". The lexicographers record that the pattern here states a state already in progress: not what will perish, but what is perishing.