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.
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 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 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.