إِن كَانَتْ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَٰحِدَةً فَإِذَا هُمْ جَمِيعٌ لَّدَيْنَا مُحْضَرُونَ · فَٱلْيَوْمَ لَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْـًٔا وَلَا تُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
In kānat illā ṣayḥatan wāḥidatan fa-idhā hum jamīʿun ladaynā muḥḍarūn · Fa'l-yawma lā tuẓlamu nafsun shayʾan wa lā tujzawna illā mā kuntum taʿmalūn
"It is but a single cry; and all at once there they all are, brought present before Us. Today no soul is wronged in the least, and you are recompensed only for what you used to do."
This single verse carries two separate internal repetitions of the sūra at once, and both can be verified:
| Piece | Where it had occurred |
|---|---|
| In kānat illā ṣayḥatan wāḥidatan | 36/29 — exactly the same five words |
| jamīʿun ladaynā muḥḍarūn | 36/32 — exactly the same three words |
The fifty-third verse, that is, joins the first half of the twenty-ninth verse to the second half of the thirty-second.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is these two exact repetitions: in the section of the story the end of the people of the town (ṣayḥa → khāmidūn) and the end of the generations (muḥḍarūn) had been given separately. The scene of the resurrection joins the two in a single sentence. The sūra, that is, frames the resurrection not as a new event but as the gathering up of what has already been recounted piece by piece.
| Verse | How the sentence ends |
|---|---|
| 29 | fa-idhā hum khāmidūn — gone out |
| 53 | fa-idhā hum jamīʿun ladaynā muḥḍarūn — brought present |
The same sound, two opposite outcomes: one an extinguishing, the other a being brought into the presence.
Al-Yawma — "today", definite. The word occurs five times in this section of the sūra, and this is a countable density:
| Verse | Expression |
|---|---|
| 54 | fa'l-yawma lā tuẓlamu nafsun |
| 55 | inna aṣḥāba'l-jannati'l-yawma fī shughulin |
| 59 | wa'mtāzu'l-yawma ayyuha'l-mujrimūn |
| 64 | iṣlawha'l-yawma bimā kuntum takfurūn |
| 65 | al-yawma nakhtimu ʿalā afwāhihim |
Five occurrences within twelve verses. My own reading: the sūra frames the resurrection not as an account of the future but as a day one is inside of. Each time the word comes at or near the head of the sentence; the scene is recounted not as "that day" but as "today".
| Clause | Person | Voice |
|---|---|---|
| Lā tuẓlamu nafsun shayʾan | 3rd person (nafsun) | Passive |
| Wa lā tujzawna illā mā kuntum taʿmalūn | 2nd plural (you) | Passive |
In Arabic the shift in the direction of address is called iltifāt. Here the general rule is given in the third person and its application in the second.
I record this as my own reading: the first clause lays down a principle and points at no one — nafsun, indefinite: "no soul at all." The second clause applies that principle to the one addressed. The principle first general, then personal.
شَيْـًٔا — in the accusative as an absolute object: "not even by a hair's breadth." The indefinite-in-a-negative pattern covers the smallest quantity.
ج-ز-ي — the root: to give the equivalent of a thing, to match. In English penalty is used only of a negative requital; in Arabic the root is neutral and covers a good requital too.
| Verse | Verb | Root | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 54 | mā kuntum taʿmalūn | ع-م-ل | What you did — the act itself |
| 65 | bimā kānū yaksibūn | ك-س-ب | What they earned — what is left over from the act |
ك-س-ب — the core of this root is to obtain, to earn; it announces what remains with a person as the result of an act. ع-م-ل announces the performing of the act.
I record this as an observation: in the fifty-fourth verse the recompense is tied to what is done, in the sixty-fifth the testimony to what is earned. Both verbs name the same event from two different sides.