يا أيها الذين آمنوا آمنوا بالله ورسوله والكتاب الذي نزل على رسوله والكتاب الذي أنزل من قبل … · إن الذين آمنوا ثم كفروا ثم آمنوا ثم كفروا ثم ازدادوا كفرا لم يكن الله ليغفر لهم … · الذين يتخذون الكافرين أولياء من دون المؤمنين أيبتغون عندهم العزة فإن العزة لله جميعا
Yā ayyuha'lladhīna āmanū āminū bi'llāhi wa rasūlihī wa'l-kitābi'lladhī nazzala ʿalā rasūlihī wa'l-kitābi'lladhī anzala min qabl … · Inna'lladhīna āmanū thumma kafarū thumma āmanū thumma kafarū thumma'zdādū kufran lam yakuni'llāhu li-yaghfira lahum … · Alladhīna yattakhidhūna'l-kāfirīna awliyāʾa min dūni'l-muʾminīn, a-yabtaghūna ʿindahumu'l-ʿizzata fa-inna'l-ʿizzata li'llāhi jamīʿā
"O you who believe! Believe in God, in His Messenger, in the Book He has sent down upon His Messenger, and in the Book He sent down before… Those who believe, then deny, then believe, then deny, then increase in denial — God will not forgive them… Those who take the deniers as allies instead of the believers — is it honour they seek with them? All honour belongs to God."
This block describes a group, and per the method (Method) the description is read thus: what is at issue is not a group but a series of acts.
| Verse | Wording | What it states |
|---|---|---|
| 137 | Āmanū thumma kafarū thumma āmanū thumma kafarū | A process — verbs are set out in order |
| 139 | Alladhīna yattakhidhūna'l-kāfirīna awliyāʾa | A behaviour |
| 142 | Wa idhā qāmū ila'ṣ-ṣalāti qāmū kusālā | A state |
| 146 | Illa'lladhīna tābū wa aṣlaḥū | An exception — the door is open |
The fourth row must be recorded separately: the hundred and forty-sixth verse writes out plainly the way out of the description. The verses, that is, themselves block a sweeping generalisation.
This field was treated in detail in al-Munāfiqūn, and I rely on that treatment. The frame established there was this: the matter is not the truth of the statement but the speaker's relation to what he says.
The hundred and thirty-seventh verse sets out five verbs with thumma. And in Arabic thumma states a sequence with intervals: there is time between the verbs.
And it must be recorded that the fifth step differs from those before it: what is named is not a going back and forth but an increase.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the pattern of the fifth verb (izdād — Form VIII, to increase): the verse counts as the last step not the going back and forth itself but the settling in one direction.
The same field was treated at al-Munāfiqūn 63/3 (āmanū thumma kafarū fa-ṭubiʿa ʿalā qulūbihim) and was set out there in a table under the heading "the four steps of a process". I rely on that treatment.
The root ع-ز-ز: that a thing be hard, firm, out of reach. Arḍun ʿazāz — hard ground. From there comes the sense of superiority, invincibility.
And the form of the sentence must be recorded: the verse asks a question (a-yabtaghūna ʿindahumu'l-ʿizza) and gives the answer in a sentence of restriction: fa-inna'l-ʿizzata li'llāhi jamīʿā — "all honour belongs to God."
The word jamīʿā is set there as an emphasis. And at al-Munāfiqūn 63/8 the same word occurs as a claim from the other side: la-yukhrijanna'l-aʿazzu mina'l-adhall. Two sūras use the same root in two different mouths.