قَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ لِلَّذِينَ ٱسْتُضْعِفُوٓا۟ أَنَحْنُ صَدَدْنَٰكُمْ عَنِ ٱلْهُدَىٰ بَعْدَ إِذْ جَآءَكُم بَلْ كُنتُم مُّجْرِمِينَ · وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسْتُضْعِفُوا۟ لِلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ بَلْ مَكْرُ ٱلَّيْلِ وَٱلنَّهَارِ إِذْ تَأْمُرُونَنَآ أَن نَّكْفُرَ بِٱللَّهِ وَنَجْعَلَ لَهُۥٓ أَندَادًا وَأَسَرُّوا۟ ٱلنَّدَامَةَ لَمَّا رَأَوُا۟ ٱلْعَذَابَ وَجَعَلْنَا ٱلْأَغْلَٰلَ فِىٓ أَعْنَاقِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ هَلْ يُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ
Qāla'lladhīna'stakbarū li'lladhīna'stuḍʿifū a-naḥnu ṣadadnākum ʿani'l-hudā baʿda idh jāʾakum bal kuntum mujrimīn · Wa qāla'lladhīna'stuḍʿifū li'lladhīna'stakbarū bal makru'l-layli wa'n-nahāri idh taʾmurūnanā an nakfura bi'llāhi wa najʿala lahū andādā, wa asarru'n-nadāmata lammā raʾawu'l-ʿadhāb, wa jaʿalna'l-aghlāla fī aʿnāqi'lladhīna kafarū, hal yujzawna illā mā kānū yaʿmalūn
"Those who were arrogant will say to those who were made weak: 'Was it we who turned you from the guidance after it came to you? No, you were guilty yourselves.' And those who were made weak will say: 'No! It was the scheming of night and day, when you kept ordering us to disbelieve in God and to set up rivals to Him.' When they see the punishment they will keep their regret inside. We will put iron collars on the necks of those who disbelieved. Are they recompensed with anything but what they used to do?"
| Step | Who | What they say |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | The weak → the arrogant | Law lā antum la-kunnā muʾminīn — but for you |
| 32 | The arrogant → the weak | A-naḥnu ṣadadnākum — was it we who turned you? |
| 33 | The weak → the arrogant | Bal makru'l-layli wa'n-nahār — scheming night and day |
And two bals (no!) come one after the other: in 32 from the arrogant, in 33 from the weak. That is, each side rejects the other's sentence.
Two counterparts of this scene were treated in detail in the series, and the comparison must be set out in a table:
- Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/47-50 — yataḥājjūna fi'n-nār: the three-stage chain (the weak → the arrogant → the keepers) was tabulated there.
- al-Ṣāffāt 37/27-33 — yatasāʾalūn: the reckoning between the two parties, and the comparison with Ghāfir was made there.
I rely on those treatments; I do not repeat those tables. Here I set down what is different in Sabaʾ:
| Ghāfir 40/47-50 | al-Ṣāffāt 37/27-33 | Sabaʾ 34/31-33 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verb | Yataḥājjūn (ح-ج-ج) — to bring proofs | Yatasāʾalūn (س-أ-ل) — to question one another | Yarjiʿu … al-qawl (ر-ج-ع) — to send speech back |
| What the weak say | A request — carry part of the load | An accusation — you used to come at us from the right | An accusation — but for you |
| The answer of the arrogant | Innā kullun fīhā — a statement of the situation | Bal lam takūnū muʾminīn — rejection | Bal kuntum mujrimīn — rejection |
| A third party | Present — the keepers | None | None |
| Outcome | Unresolved | Shared punishment: fa-innahum yawmaʾidhin fi'l-ʿadhābi mushtarikūn | Regret kept hidden |
The clearest difference is in the last row, and it is peculiar to Sabaʾ: in Ghāfir the dispute goes on with an appeal, in al-Ṣāffāt with a reckoning. In Sabaʾ the dispute ends in a silence: wa asarru'n-nadāmata lammā raʾawu'l-ʿadhāb.
And the choice of verb must be recorded. I give this as my own reading; its support is the verse's own word: asarrū — they kept it within, they hid it. That is, the regret is felt but not spoken. The scene opens with mutual accusation and closes in silence.
أ-س-ر — the sense of the root: to hide, to keep inside. Sirr — what is hidden. And the lexicographers also transmit that the word is used in the opposite sense (to make known); some exegetes have preferred this second sense here.
| Reading | Sense |
|---|---|
| 1 | They hid it — they kept their regret inside |
| 2 | They made it plain — the root used in its contrary sense |
On the face of it the construction ascribes the scheming to the night and to the day. The lexicographers explain it thus: the construction states time — "the scheming [you carried on] night and day". That is, night and day are the name not of the agent but of the duration of the act.
I record this as my own reading, and its support is the continuation of the sentence: idh taʾmurūnanā — "when you kept ordering us". The agent is stated plainly immediately afterwards. So the schemer is not the night but the other party; night and day announce the unceasingness of the work.
And the picture in the construction is worth recording: the persuading is named not as a single event but as a process that fills all the hours. The other party speaks not of a conversation but of a siege.
The root م-ك-ر was treated at Fāṭir 35/43 (wa lā yaḥīqu'l-makru's-sayyiʾu illā bi-ahlih) and at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/45. I do not repeat it here.
أَندَاد — the plural of nidd; root ن-د-د: equal, match, like. The lexicographers record that the word conveys in particular an opposing or rival equality: not merely a like, but at the same time one who sets himself against.
غ-ل-ل — root: an iron ring put on the neck or on the captured hand; and to be thrust in between things. The root was treated at Yāsīn 36/8 (innā jaʿalnā fī aʿnāqihim aghlālan) and at al-Ḥāqqa 69/30 and in al-Insān. I do not repeat it here.
What belongs here is the place of the clause in the scene, and I give this as an observation about the word order: the verse says that collars are put on the necks after it has described the mutual accusation and the hidden regret. The sequence, that is, is: speech → silence → binding. After the dispute ends, movement ends too.
هَلْ يُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ — "are they recompensed with anything but what they used to do?"
The sentence is identical in pattern to the one in the seventeenth verse: wa hal nujāzī illa'l-kafūr. Both sentences are on the pattern hal … illā (a question conveying negation, plus exception).
| Verse | Sentence | What it limits |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Wa hal nujāzī illa'l-kafūr | Who is recompensed |
| 33 | Hal yujzawna illā mā kānū yaʿmalūn | With what they are recompensed |
The same pattern, two different limits: the person and the return. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.