Āl ʿImrān 3:79-80

Mā kāna li-basharin an yuʾtiyahu'llāhu'l-kitāba wa'l-ḥukma wa'n-nubuwwata thumma yaqūla li'n-nāsi kūnū ʿibādan lī min dūni'llāhi wa lākin kūnū rabbāniyyīna bimā kuntum tuʿallimūna'l-kitāba wa bimā kuntum tadrusūn · Wa lā yaʾmurakum an tattakhidhu'l-malāʾikata wa'n-nabiyyīna arbābā, a-yaʾmurukum bi'l-kufri baʿda idh antum muslimūn

"It is not for a human being to whom God has given the Book, judgement and prophethood then to say to people, 'Be servants to me apart from God.' Rather: 'Be rabbānīs, by the Book you teach and by what you study.' · Nor does He command you to take the angels and the prophets as lords. Would He command you to disbelief after you have handed yourselves over?"

These two verses are the unfolding of the third item of verse 64 (wa lā yattakhidha baʿḍunā baʿḍan arbāban min dūni'llāh). And this is a link verifiable within the sūra: the same word (arbāb) and the same caveat (min dūni'llāh) occur twice, fifteen verses apart.

The pattern mā kāna li-fulānin an yafʿala conveys in Arabic an unfittingness and an impossibility: "this is not a thing that can be for him."

And the choice of subject must be recorded: li-bashar — "for a human being". It does not say prophet; it says human being.

I record this as an observation about the word order: the sentence sets the prohibition on the widest set. Even after the three highest things that can be given to a person have been counted, that person is named "human being".

And the threefold count must be recorded: al-kitāb, al-ḥukm, al-nubuwwa. The same three occurred at verse 48 of the sūra for Jesus, and at 45/16 in al-Jāthiya for the Children of Israel. I rely on al-Jāthiya 45/16-20.

And the verse does not content itself with a prohibition; it sets a sentence in its place. The word order is this:

رَبَّانِيّ — root ر-ب-ب. The lexicographers differ over the derivation of the word, and the disagreement is not to be concealed:

All three are transmitted; I do not impose a preference. But the verse's own note gives an indication, and I record this as an indication, not as a preference: the continuation of the sentence is bimā kuntum tuʿallimūna'l-kitāba wa bimā kuntum tadrusūn — teaching and studying. That is, the word is named within the verse together with learning and teaching.

And that the word rabbānī is from the same root as rabb is a fact of word order and must be recorded: in saying "do not take arbāb", the verse gives the alternative with a word from the same root. What is refused is the applying of the root to human beings in the plural (arbāb); what is set down is a relative form of the same root (rabbānī).

I record this as my own reading, and it is not binding: the verse does not forbid attachment, it corrects where the attachment goes. The same root stands both in the prohibition and in the alternative; what changes is to whom the root is applied.

And the eightieth verse widens the list: al-malāʾikata wa'n-nabiyyīn.

I record this as an observation about the word order: the prohibition names the two likeliest candidates. A person is not seated in the position of an intermediary on a claim of nearness to a stone or a tree, but to an angel and a prophet. The verse builds the list with the two most revered names — because the question is not whether the intermediary is of worth but whether he stands in between.

And the verse's last note: baʿda idh antum muslimūn — "after you have handed yourselves over". The word is again muslim: the last word of verse 64, the attribute of Abraham in verse 67, and now the state of the one addressed. Three occurrences within sixteen verses. This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra.