أَن تَقُولَ نَفْسٌ … أَوْ تَقُولَ لَوْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ هَدَىٰنِى لَكُنتُ مِنَ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ · أَوْ تَقُولَ حِينَ تَرَى ٱلْعَذَابَ لَوْ أَنَّ لِى كَرَّةً فَأَكُونَ مِنَ ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ
"Before a soul says this… or says 'Had God guided me, I would have been among those who guard themselves'; or, when it sees the punishment, says 'Had I one more turn, I would be among those who do good'…"
The verses set out three separate sentences, and all three come in the pattern an taqūla nafsun / aw taqūla:
| Order | Saying | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (56) | Yā ḥasratā ʿalā mā farraṭtu fī janbi'llāh | Regret |
| 2 (57) | Law anna'llāha hadānī | Transfer of responsibility |
| 3 (58) | Law anna lī karratan | The wish to return |
The order is worth recording, and I give it as my own reading: first regret, then the laying of the blame on another, then the demand to make good. And the second cuts off the third: had no guidance been given, returning too would have no meaning.
And the answer is given directly to the second excuse (59): balā qad jāʾatka āyātī fa-kadhdhabta bihā wa'stakbarta — "No! My signs came to you, and you denied them and grew proud."
بَلَىٰ — in Arabic, the particle of answer used to refute a negative sentence. That is, the negative on which the excuse rests ("I was not guided") is rejected.
وَٱسْتَكْبَرْتَ — and the cause is named as self-magnification. That kibr lies beneath the dispute was treated in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) at 40/56; here the same root is set against the excuse.
The verb must be recorded: taʾmurūnnī — "do you command me?" That is, what the other side is doing is named not as an offer but as a command.
وَلَقَدْ أُوحِىَ إِلَيْكَ وَإِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكَ لَئِنْ أَشْرَكْتَ لَيَحْبَطَنَّ عَمَلُكَ — the root ح-ب-ط was analysed in al-Ḥujurāt at 49/2 (an animal that eats a harmful plant, swells and dies — growth on the outside, rot within). I do not repeat it here.
The addressee of the conditional sentence is worth recording: the ruling is given as directed to the prophets as well (wa ila'lladhīna min qablik). That is, the rule is laid down without exception.
بَلِ ٱللَّهَ فَٱعْبُدْ وَكُن مِّنَ ٱلشَّٰكِرِينَ — and in the word order the object is brought forward: Allāha fa'ʿbud — "serve God." In Arabic this fronting conveys restriction: and no other. The command mukhliṣan lahu'd-dīn in the second verse of the sūra is thereby repeated here by way of word order.