al-Aḥzāb 33:45-48

Yā ayyuha'l-nabiyyu innā arsalnāka shāhidan wa mubashshiran wa nadhīrā · Wa dāʿiyan ila'llāhi bi-idhnihī wa sirājan munīrā · Wa bashshiri'l-muʾminīna bi-anna lahum mina'llāhi faḍlan kabīrā · Wa lā tuṭiʿi'l-kāfirīna wa'l-munāfiqīna wa daʿ adhāhum wa tawakkal ʿala'llāh, wa kafā bi'llāhi wakīlā

"O Prophet! We have sent you as a witness, a bringer of good news and a warner; · and as one calling to God by His leave, and as an illuminating lamp. · Give the believers the good news that they have a great bounty from God. · And do not obey the disbelievers and the hypocrites; pay no heed to their injury; and rely on God. God suffices as a trustee."

These four verses close a ring with the first three verses of the sūra, and the ring is almost exact.

The same verse-ending, the same prohibition, the same command.

And there are two differences, both worth recording:

One. In the forty-eighth verse there is an addition: wa daʿ adhāhum — "pay no heed to their injury". It was not there at the head of the sūra.

Two. In the forty-fifth and forty-sixth verses five attributes are enumerated. They were not enumerated at the head of the sūra.

That is, the sūra returns to the same frame but has added two things inside it: a definition and a note of endurance. And what happened in the forty verses between required exactly this: a siege, an internal separation, a heavy regulation.

I record this as my own reading; its ground is the verbal overlap of the two blocks and their differences.

This verse was already mentioned at al-Fatḥ: "O Prophet! We have sent you as a witness, a bringer of good news and a warner… (al-Aḥzāb 33/45-46). The same three words, in the same order; there two further attributes are added." I rely on that treatment.

The root ب-ش-ر: bashara — skin, the surface of the body. Bushrā — good news; and the link is this: the skin of the face of a person who receives good news changes. That is, good news is in the root of the word a change of countenance.

The root ن-ذ-ر: nadhr — a vow; and indhār — warning. The lexicographers join the two on the common ground of "binding oneself to a thing / making someone aware of a thing".

The root د-ع-و — for the fourth time in this sūra. It occurred in the fourth and fifth verses as adʿiyāʾ and udʿūhum.

And this repetition is worth recording: the same root was, at the head of the sūra, the name of a false ascription (adʿiyāʾ — adopted sons), and here it is the name of a true call (dāʿiyan ila'llāh).

The root is "to call"; and the sūra corrects the direction of the call twice: call the child by his father (5), call people to God (46).

I record this as my own reading; its ground is the four occurrences of the root in the sūra.

Root: س-ر-ج. A lamp, a thing that gives light.

This word was treated at Nūḥ and the finding recorded there is worth bringing over: "the Qurʾān uses the word sirāj of the Prophet as well — 'an illuminating lamp' (sirājan munīrā, al-Aḥzāb 33/46). There, of course, no burning body is meant. The word conveys not a physical mechanism but the function of being a source."

The Qurʾān uses the word of the sun too (Nūḥ 71/16; al-Furqān 25/61; al-Nabaʾ 78/13 — there sirājan wahhājā).

And a difference is worth recording: for the sun the adjective wahhāj (scorching, fierce) is used, for the Prophet munīr (illuminating).

I give this difference as an observation; I build no forced meaning upon it.

The sūra's axis of injury begins here.

The root أ-ذ-ي: to disturb, to hurt. The distinction the lexicographers record is important: adhā is not a great harm; it is a light but continual annoyance. Less than ḍarar, but more wearing.

The Qurʾān uses the root in this sense: "They can do you no harm beyond an injury" (Āl ʿImrān 3/111 — lan yaḍurrūkum illā adhā). The verse plainly distinguishes adhā from ḍarar.

And the root occurs seven times in this sūra (48, 53 twice, 57, 58, 59, 69). This is one of the densest uses within a single sūra in the Qurʾān.

دَعْ — root و-د-ع. To leave, to abandon. Daʿ — leave it.

And the form of the command is worth recording: the verse does not say "do not answer them" or "be patient". It says "leave it".

The difference is this: patience is carrying something. To leave is not to carry it. The verse commands the second.

I record this as my own reading; its ground is the choice of the verb.

The two commands of the forty-eighth verse together describe an attitude: not falling into line, and paying no heed.

And the relationship between the two is worth recording. The most common price a person pays for not falling into line with a group is the continual small annoyances that come from that group — adhā. And these annoyances, taken one by one, are trivial; their sum is a pressure.

The verse's solution is not to answer back: daʿ — leave it. That is, the verse asks in the same sentence both for not falling into line and for not reacting.

And for this to be possible a third command comes: tawakkal ʿala'llāh. As at the head of the sūra, the note of leaving the outcome is what makes the attitude bearable.