فَرَاغَ إِلَىٰٓ ءَالِهَتِهِمْ فَقَالَ أَلَا تَأْكُلُونَ · مَا لَكُمْ لَا تَنطِقُونَ · فَرَاغَ عَلَيْهِمْ ضَرْبًۢا بِٱلْيَمِينِ
Fa-rāgha ilā ālihatihim fa-qāla alā taʾkulūn · Mā lakum lā tanṭiqūn · Fa-rāgha ʿalayhim ḍarban bi'l-yamīn
"Then he slipped away to their gods and said: 'Will you not eat? What is the matter with you, that you do not speak?' Then he turned upon them, striking with his right hand."
رَاغَ — and its link with al-Dhāriyāt
Rāgha — root ر-و-غ. The root was analysed in detail at al-Dhāriyāt 51/26 (fa-rāgha ilā ahlihi fa-jāʾa bi-ʿijlin samīn) and I do not repeat it.
The definition there: to draw aside quietly, without being noticed; to slip off by changing direction. Rāgha'th-thaʿlab — the fox fled by turning aside; murāwagha — to dodge, to turn by feinting.
And what must be recorded here is this: the same verb, the same prophet, two different sūras, two different pieces of work — and twice in al-Ṣāffāt.
| Place | Expression | To where / to whom | For what |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Dhāriyāt 51/26 | fa-rāgha ilā ahlihi | To his household | To prepare food for the guests |
| Al-Ṣāffāt 37/91 | fa-rāgha ilā ālihatihim | To their gods | To speak / to call to account |
| Al-Ṣāffāt 37/93 | fa-rāgha ʿalayhim | Upon them | To strike |
This is a fact that can be verified from the text, and in all three occurrences the shared feature of the verb is the same: a movement made quietly, without notice.
In the section on al-Dhāriyāt its counterpart in the etiquette of hospitality was recorded: the host does not say "I will prepare food for you", he goes out without notice. Here the same fineness works in the opposite direction: the people have gone, Abraham has stayed behind, and without notice to anyone he enters the house of idols.
And one of the finest points of word order in the sūra is here. The same verb takes two different prepositions two verses apart:
| Verse | Expression | Preposition | Its sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| 91 | fa-rāgha ilā ālihatihim | إِلَىٰ — direction toward | He slipped toward them |
| 93 | fa-rāgha ʿalayhim | عَلَىٰ — over, upon | He came upon them |
In Arabic ilā announces going in a direction, ʿalā going up onto / coming upon a thing. The same verb, that is, passes from speaking to striking between two verses, and the passage is marked only by the preposition.
This question sits in a context: food being set before the idols. The verse does not say this openly, but the question requires it. I write no more than that.
And at al-Dhāriyāt 51/27 the same sentence had occurred — but there Abraham said it to his guests: fa-qarrabahu ilayhim qāla alā taʾkulūn. The same sentence, the same person, two different addressees.
| Place | To whom alā taʾkulūn is said | The answer |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Dhāriyāt 51/27 | To the guests (angels) | They do not eat — and Abraham is afraid (51/28) |
| Al-Ṣāffāt 37/91 | To the idols | They do not eat — and Abraham strikes |
This is one of the most striking overlaps of wording between the two sūras and is entirely a textual datum. I record this as my own reading: in both places the same sentence marks the moment of an expectation going unmet. But the outcome is opposite: in the one fear, in the other action.
And the mā lakum mould occurs for the third time in the sūra (25, 92, 154). It was given above in a table. This occurrence stands in the middle of the three and is the only one of the questions directed at the side that is served.
I record this as my own reading: in the twenty-fifth verse the deniers were asked "why do you not help one another?"; in the ninety-second their gods are asked "why do you not speak?" Both questions show an inability to function and both go unanswered. The sūra applies the same method both to the one who serves and to what is served.
Ḍarb — root ض-ر-ب: to strike. And the word is in the accusative, in the position of a cognate accusative: it reinforces the verb.
A point of word order: fa-rāgha ʿalayhim ḍarban — the grammarians count ḍarban either as the cognate accusative of rāgha (attached to an elided verb yaḍribu) or as a circumstantial. Both solutions are transmitted; the sense does not change.
| Verse | Expression | Who | Its sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | taʾtūnanā ʿani'l-yamīn | The deniers (to one another) | Disputed — the table was given above |
| 93 | ḍarban bi'l-yamīn | Abraham | Disputed — below |
The same word, the same sūra, two different prepositions (ʿan / bi), two different disagreements. This is a textual datum.
| View | What bi'l-yamīn means | Ground |
|---|---|---|
| With the right hand | Physical: he struck with his right hand | The most widespread sense of the word; the right hand is the strong hand for striking |
| With force | Yamīn in the sense of strength (al-Ḥāqqa 69/45) | The second branch of the root |
| By an oath / because of a vow | He struck as required by an oath he had sworn earlier | At al-Anbiyāʾ 21/57 it is transmitted that Abraham said wa ta'llāhi la-akīdanna aṣnāmakum; this may be tied to that verse |
All three are transmitted in the classical sources. The third view has an intra-Qurʾānic ground, and this is worth noting; but the verse does not set up such a link here. I do not impose a preference.
And a note as my own reading: the first and the second sense do not exclude one another — in Arabic yamīn means the right hand precisely because it is the "strong hand". The third sense, however, requires a separate piece of information, and the text does not give it.