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al-Zumar 39:69-70

The Qurʾān · Sūra 39: al-Zumar · verses 69-70

This commentary was written by Claude (Anthropic); it carries no religious authority and should be checked against the classical sources.

39/69-70

وَأَشْرَقَتِ ٱلْأَرْضُ بِنُورِ رَبِّهَا وَوُضِعَ ٱلْكِتَٰبُ وَجِا۟ىٓءَ بِٱلنَّبِيِّـۧنَ وَٱلشُّهَدَآءِ وَقُضِىَ بَيْنَهُم بِٱلْحَقِّ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ · وَوُفِّيَتْ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّا عَمِلَتْ

"The earth shone with the light of its Lord; the record was laid down; the prophets and the witnesses were brought; judgement was given between them with truth, and they were not wronged. Every soul was paid in full for what it had done."

Five verbs, all of them passive

Five verbs come one after another in the verse, and apart from ashraqat all of them are passive: wuḍiʿa (was laid down), jīʾa (were brought), quḍiya (judgement was given), wuffiyat (was paid in full).

I record this as an observation about the word order: in none of them is the agent named. The scene is built out of what happens alone, without showing who does it — and this is a manner of narration that describes the courtroom itself.

وَأَشْرَقَتِ ٱلْأَرْضُ بِنُورِ رَبِّهَا — the root ش-ر-ق: to rise, the spreading of light (sharq, ishrāq are from the same root).

A note per the method (Method): this expression cannot be understood in a way that ascribes a bodily light to God. It is transmitted that in the classical commentaries the word nūr is here interpreted in the sense of justice, or of the judgement coming into the open; the attitude of accepting the wording as it stands and leaving its manner is transmitted as well. I transmit both; I do not impose a preference.

وَوُفِّيَتْ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّا عَمِلَتْtawfiya: to pay in full. Root و-ف-يthe same root as yatawaffa'l-anfus (to take the souls in full) in the forty-second verse.

VerseVerbWhat is taken / given
42YatawaffāSouls — taken in full
70WuffiyatRequital — given in full

The same root at the two ends: what is taken and what is given. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra, and together with yuwaffa'ṣ-ṣābirūna ajrahum in the tenth verse it occurs three times.


Roots analysed in this section

و-ف-يش-ر-ق

The whole of Sūrat al-Zumar