ثُمَّ أَنزَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ ٱلْغَمِّ أَمَنَةً نُّعَاسًا
Thumma anzala ʿalaykum min baʿdi'l-ghammi amanatan nuʿāsan yaghshā ṭāʾifatan minkum, wa ṭāʾifatun qad ahammat'hum anfusuhum yaẓunnūna bi'llāhi ghayra'l-ḥaqqi ẓanna'l-jāhiliyya, yaqūlūna hal lanā mina'l-amri min shayʾ, qul inna'l-amra kullahū li'llāh… · Inna'lladhīna tawallaw minkum yawma'ltaqa'l-jamʿāni innama'stazallahumu'sh-shayṭānu bi-baʿḍi mā kasabū, wa la-qad ʿafa'llāhu ʿanhum, inna'llāha ghafūrun ḥalīm
"Then, after the grief, He sent down upon you a security, a drowsiness that overcame a party of you. Another party had been made anxious by their own selves: they thought of God what is not the truth, the thought of the age of ignorance. 'Have we any part in this affair?' they were saying. Say: 'The affair belongs entirely to God.' … · As for those of you who turned away on the day the two hosts met, Satan sought to make them slip because of some of what they had earned. And God has indeed pardoned them. God is much-forgiving, most forbearing."
And the word order must be recorded: amanatan first, nuʿāsan after. The second is the explanation of the first (an appositive substitute). That is, what was sent down is "security", and the visible form of that security is a drowsiness.
I record this as an observation: the sentence tells an inward state by a sign visible in the body. Fear drives sleep away; the verse counts the coming of sleep as the mark of security.
And the same event is told at 8/11 in al-Anfāl as well (idh yughashshīkumu'n-nuʿāsa amanatan minh) and there the order of the words is reversed: nuʿās first, amana after. The two sūras use the same two words in reverse order. This is a fact verifiable from the text.
The root ج-ه-ل: not to know; and for the lexicographers also to act in anger, without measure. That is, the opposite of the root is not only ʿilm but also ḥilm.
And the construction occurs rarely in the Qurʾān. And its use here is of a thought: ẓanna'l-jāhiliyya.
I record this as an observation about the word: the construction is used not as the name of a period but as the name of a way of thinking. And what it is about is stated in the verse: yaẓunnūna bi'llāhi ghayra'l-ḥaqq — about God.
And the wording of the question and the answer must be recorded, because they are built with the same words:
And the same construction (mina'l-amri… shayʾ) had occurred twenty-six verses earlier, at verse 128: laysa laka mina'l-amri shayʾun.
| Verse | To whom it is said | Mood |
|---|---|---|
| 128 | To the Prophet | A declaration |
| 154 | To those who ask — as an answer | Question and answer |
This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra. And I record this as my own reading, and it is not binding: the same limit is said first to the person in the highest position, then to those who ask. That is, the answer rests not on who the questioner is but on no one's having any part in it.