وَمَآ ءَاتَيْنَٰهُم مِّن كُتُبٍ يَدْرُسُونَهَا وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَآ إِلَيْهِمْ قَبْلَكَ مِن نَّذِيرٍ · وَكَذَّبَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَمَا بَلَغُوا۟ مِعْشَارَ مَآ ءَاتَيْنَٰهُمْ فَكَذَّبُوا۟ رُسُلِى فَكَيْفَ كَانَ نَكِيرِ
Wa mā ātaynāhum min kutubin yadrusūnahā wa mā arsalnā ilayhim qablaka min nadhīr · Wa kadhdhaba'lladhīna min qablihim wa mā balaghū miʿshāra mā ātaynāhum fa-kadhdhabū rusulī, fa-kayfa kāna nakīr
"Yet We had given them no books to study, nor had We sent them any warner before you. Those before them denied too; and these have not attained a tenth of what We gave them. They denied My messengers. How then was My rejection of them!"
The forty-fourth verse questions the ground of the objections in the forty-third, and negates two things at once:
| What is negated | Expression | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| A written source | Mā ātaynāhum min kutubin yadrusūnahā | There is no book they read |
| An oral warning | Mā arsalnā ilayhim qablaka min nadhīr | There is no warner who came before |
Both kinds of proof are closed off: transmission and testimony. This pair stands in the same frame as the demand for proof treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/4 (iʾtūnī bi-kitābin min qabli hādhā aw athāratin min ʿilm — "bring me a book from before this, or some remnant of knowledge"). I rely on that treatment.
And at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/56 (bi-ghayri sulṭānin atāhum — without any warrant that has come to them) the same measure was treated. Sabaʾ lays down the same measure by way of negation: there is no text they can point to as a ground.
يَدْرُسُونَهَا — root د-ر-س: to read a thing over and over, to work on it; and to efface its trace. The lexicographers connect the two senses thus: the trace of a much-trodden place is effaced; a much-read text is learnt by heart. I transmit this relation as a link the lexicographers have built.
And that the verb comes in the imperfect is worth recording: yadrusūnahā — "which they keep reading". The point, that is, is not merely that no book was given — it is that there is no text being worked on.
Both pronouns must be recorded: ātaynāhum and ilayhim. Their referent is the preceding verse — those who, when the verses were recited, said "ifkun muftarā", "siḥrun mubīn". The sentence, that is, is not a general ruling but a statement about a particular audience.
And this can be verified within the sūra. The thirty-fourth verse says wa mā arsalnā fī qaryatin min nadhīrin illā qāla mutrafūhā — that a warner was sent to every town. The two sentences can be set side by side:
| Verse | Expression | What it looks to |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | Wa mā arsalnā fī qaryatin min nadhīr | History — sent town by town |
| 44 | Wa mā arsalnā ilayhim qablaka min nadhīr | This community — none came to them directly |
The difference is not one of scope but of referent, and I record this as an observation about the word order: one states that sending took place, the other the situation of this audience.
And the same measure occurs in a close pattern at al-Sajda 32/3 (li-tundhira qawman mā atāhum min nadhīrin min qablik) and there two readings were tabulated: "no warner ever came" and "none came recently" — the interval, fatra. There it was also compared with Fāṭir (al-Malāʾika) 35/24 (wa in min ummatin illā khalā fīhā nadhīr — the verb in the perfect: "came and passed"). I rely on that treatment; I do not impose a preference.
The field of this sentence is distinct from the verses about the People of the Book, and the distinction is visible in the words of the two texts themselves. At al-Māʾida 5/43, wa ʿindahumu't-Tawrātu fīhā ḥukmu'llāh — it says a Book is beside them; here, mā ātaynāhum min kutubin yadrusūnahā — that there is no book they keep reading. The one describes a community that does not turn to the text in its hand, the other a community with no text in hand. I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the adverb and the verb each verse chooses: ʿindahum / yadrusūnahā.
The word comes from the root ʿushr (a tenth) and is on the mifʿāl pattern. The lexicographers explain it as "a tenth"; some record that the pattern conveys multiplicity or intensity.
| View | What miʿshār concerns |
|---|---|
| 1 | Power and wealth — those before them were far stronger in these |
| 2 | Time and favour — the lifespan and means given to those before were greater |
Both explanations are transmitted; I do not impose a preference, and the verse does not specify in any case: mā ātaynāhum — "what We gave them".
The same line was treated at Fāṭir (al-Malāʾika) 35/44 and at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/21, 40/82 (wa kānū ashadda minhum quwwatan — they were stronger than these). I rely on those treatments.
What belongs here is that the measure is given numerically, and I record this as my own reading: Fāṭir and Ghāfir say "they were stronger"; Sabaʾ gives a ratio: a tenth. The comparison, that is, is built not with a qualitative but with a quantitative expression.
And the structure of the argument is this: they possessed far more, and even so they were not saved. This is a direct answer to the claim in the thirty-fifth verse — there it was said "our wealth is greater, we will not be punished". The forty-fifth verse refutes that inference from history: those who possessed more wealth denied as well, and received their recompense.
| Verse | Claim / answer |
|---|---|
| 35 | Naḥnu aktharu amwālan — abundance affords protection |
| 45 | Wa mā balaghū miʿshāra mā ātaynāhum — they did not attain even a tenth of it; and they were not protected |
نَكِير — root ن-ك-ر: to not recognise, to reject, to find repugnant. The word was treated at Fāṭir (al-Malāʾika) 35/26, where it was recorded that it is explained as "the consequence of My rejection" and that the lexicographers describe this as the severity of the punishment. I do not repeat it here.
And the sentence is word for word the same in two sūras: fa-kayfa kāna nakīr (Fāṭir 35/26 and Sabaʾ 34/45). In both it closes a block. This is an overlap between sūras that can be verified.