لا خير في كثير من نجواهم إلا من أمر بصدقة أو معروف أو إصلاح بين الناس ومن يفعل ذلك ابتغاء مرضات الله فسوف نؤتيه أجرا عظيما · ومن يشاقق الرسول من بعد ما تبين له الهدى ويتبع غير سبيل المؤمنين نوله ما تولى ونصله جهنم وساءت مصيرا
Lā khayra fī kathīrin min najwāhum illā man amara bi-ṣadaqatin aw maʿrūfin aw iṣlāḥin bayna'l-nās, wa man yafʿal dhālika'btighāʾa marḍāti'llāhi fa-sawfa nuʾtīhi ajran ʿaẓīmā · Wa man yushāqiqi'l-rasūla min baʿdi mā tabayyana lahu'l-hudā wa yattabiʿ ghayra sabīli'l-muʾminīna nuwallihī mā tawallā wa nuṣlihī jahannam, wa sāʾat maṣīrā
"There is no good in much of their secret talk, except in one who enjoins a charitable gift, or a recognised good, or the setting right of what is between people. Whoever does this seeking God's good pleasure, We shall give him a great reward. And whoever breaks with the Messenger after the guidance has become clear to him, and follows a way other than that of the believers, We shall turn him to what he has turned to and cast him into Hell. What an evil destination!"
The root ن-ج-و: to save; and to set a thing apart, to draw it aside. Najāt — deliverance; najwa — a place slightly raised from the ground, standing apart.
And najwā, at the root of the word, is "to draw aside to a separate place and talk". The word, that is, names not the content of the speech but the manner of speaking.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the verse's exception: the verse leaves outside not the whole of secret talk but much of it (kathīrin min najwāhum) — and it gives the exception, again, according to content.
And the third item must be recorded: the root ص-ل-ح occurs in this sūra for the fourth time, as a remedy.
| Verse | Wording | Between whom |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Fa-in tābā wa aṣlaḥā | Two persons |
| 35 | In yurīdā iṣlāḥan yuwaffiqi'llāhu baynahumā | Spouses |
| 114 | Iṣlāḥin bayna'l-nās | People — in general |
| 128 | An yuṣliḥā baynahumā ṣulḥan wa'l-ṣulḥu khayr | Spouses |
The same root in four verses, and in all four the setting right of a breach. This is a weave that can be verified within the sūra, and it will be tabled again in the concluding section.
I record this as my own reading: the sūra uses the same word from a disagreement inside the family (35) to human relations in general (114). The scale changes, the verb does not.
The root occurred at the thirty-fifth verse as shiqāq and was treated there: the splitting of a whole in two. I rely on that treatment.
| Verse | Wording | Between whom the split runs |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | Shiqāqa baynihimā | Spouses |
| 115 | Yushāqiqi'l-rasūl | Between the Messenger and a person |
And the qualification in the conditional clause must be recorded: min baʿdi mā tabayyana lahu'l-hudā — "after the guidance has become clear to him". The ruling is tied not to ignorance but to what is done with what is known.
This is the same line recorded at al-Baqara 2/75: "the matter is not ignorance but what is done with what is known." I rely on that treatment.