وَمِنْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ خَلْقُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱخْتِلَٰفُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَٰنِكُمْ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَٰتٍ لِّلْعَٰلِمِينَ
Wa min āyātihi khalqu's-samāwāti wa'l-arḍi wa'khtilāfu alsinatikum wa alwānikum, inna fī dhālika la-āyātin li'l-ʿālimīn
"And of His signs: the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your tongues and your colours. In that there are surely signs for those who know."
Both elements hang on the same min āyātihi predicate, in the same case. That is, the creation of the heavens and the fact that people speak differently and look different from one another are enumerated side by side in a single sentence.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is this equality in the word order: diversity is mentioned not as a by-product of creation but as a sign ranked with the heavens and the earth.
At Fāṭir 35/27-28 the diversity of colours was treated in detail, and it was tabulated there that the construct mukhtalifun alwānuhā is repeated three times: plant, stone, living creature. And the sentence that came immediately after that list was this: innamā yakhsha'llāha min ʿibādihi'l-ʿulamāʾ. I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it.
| Fāṭir 35/27-28 | al-Rūm 30/22 | |
|---|---|---|
| What the diversity is in | Colour — in three domains (plant, stone, living creature) | Colour and tongue — in man alone |
| How many times | Mukhtalifun alwānuhā — three times | Ikhtilāf — once, with two objects |
| What comes after | Innamā yakhsha'llāha … al-ʿulamāʾ | La-āyātin li'l-ʿālimīn |
| The word the link runs through | عُلَمَاء — those who know | عَالِمِين — those who know |
Both sūras end, after recounting the diversity of colours, with the root of ʿilm (ع-ل-م). This is an overlap that can be verified from the text, and it comes in the same order in the two sūras: first the list of diversity, then the reference to those who know.
And the finding recorded at Fāṭir 35/28 holds here too: the sentence is set down not as an abstract commendation but as the conclusion of a list of observations. A link is made between the person who notices and knowledge.
One — the pattern of the word. In Fāṭir ʿulamāʾ (the learned, a plural), in al-Rūm al-ʿālimīn (those who know, the plural of the active participle). al-Rūm's pattern is the wider one: not the name of a class, but everyone who performs the act.
Two — the field of the diversity. Fāṭir spreads the diversity across three domains. al-Rūm stays with man alone — but adds two dimensions: colour and tongue.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is this second difference: when alsina (tongues) is set beside colour, diversity opens out from a difference that is seen to one that is also heard. Colour is noticed by looking, language by speaking. That is, the second element carries diversity into a field that requires an encounter.
At al-Ḥujurāt 49/13 the purpose of diversity was treated: wa jaʿalnākum shuʿūban wa qabāʾila li-taʿārafū — "We made you peoples and tribes, that you might come to know one another".
One. "The verse does not abolish groups. It establishes them." The verb is wa jaʿalnākum; the distinction is recorded not as a failing or as an obstacle to be got past but as an act of creation.
Two. That the root of shaʿb (ش-ع-ب) is counted by the lexicographers among the aḍdād — meaning both to divide and to join — and the shared idea beneath it: "branches separating from one trunk are both separated and attached to the same trunk."
| al-Ḥujurāt 49/13 | al-Rūm 30/22 | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the diversity is | In the structure of a people — nation, tribe | In the person — tongue and colour |
| What the sentence gives | Purpose — li-taʿārafū (that you might come to know one another) | Attribute — āya (sign) |
| The closing | Inna akramakum ʿinda'llāhi atqākum — a measure | La-āyātin li'l-ʿālimīn — an understanding |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the two verses give different elements: al-Ḥujurāt says what diversity is for (coming to know one another); al-Rūm says what it is (a sign). Read together, the two yield a complete sentence: diversity is a sign, and the work the sign points to is coming to know one another.
And the note entered in al-Ḥujurāt holds here too, and I repeat it: no blanket ruling about an ethnic or a linguistic group is to be drawn from this. What the verse enumerates is the difference itself; that the difference is not a measure of superiority al-Ḥujurāt says plainly.
أَلْسِنَة — the plural of lisān; root ل-س-ن: tongue (the organ) and tongue (speech). The same word was treated at al-Dukhān 44/58 (yassarnāhu bi-lisānik), and it was recorded there that the expression "in your tongue" bounds the instrument of the making-easy. I rely on that treatment.
The relation between the two places is worth recording, and I give this as an observation: in al-Dukhān the text is made easy in one tongue; in al-Rūm the multiplicity of tongues is counted a sign. The two do not contradict: the one describes the address, the other describes humankind.