al-Nisāʾ 4:142-147

Inna'l-munāfiqīna yukhādiʿūna'llāha wa huwa khādiʿuhum wa idhā qāmū ila'ṣ-ṣalāti qāmū kusālā … · Mudhabdhabīna bayna dhālika lā ilā hāʾulāʾi wa lā ilā hāʾulāʾ · … Inna'l-munāfiqīna fi'l-darki'l-asfali mina'l-nār … · Illa'lladhīna tābū wa aṣlaḥū wa'ʿtaṣamū bi'llāhi wa akhlaṣū dīnahum li'llāhi fa-ulāʾika maʿa'l-muʾminīn · Mā yafʿalu'llāhu bi-ʿadhābikum in shakartum wa āmantum

"They seek to deceive God, but it is He who turns their deceit back upon them. When they rise to prayer they rise sluggishly… Wavering between the two, neither to these nor to those… The hypocrites are in the lowest depth of the Fire… Except those who repent, set things right, hold fast to God and make their religion purely for God: these are with the believers… Why should God punish you, if you are grateful and believe?"

ذ-ب-ذ-ب — a four-letter root with reduplication. The lexicographers explain the word as a thing swinging to both sides, hanging and being tossed about.

And the pattern of the word must be recorded: mudhabdhab is a passive participle — that is, not one who swings but one who is swung.

And the continuation of the sentence completes the picture: lā ilā hāʾulāʾi wa lā ilā hāʾulāʾ — "neither to these nor to those".

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the pattern of the word together with the structure of the sentence: the verse describes standing between two sides not as a position but as a state of irresolution.

And this picture has a counterpart within the sūra: ka'l-muʿallaqa (left suspended) in the hundred and twenty-ninth verse.

Both words build the picture of "being caught in between". I record this as an observation about word order; I set up no link of ruling between the two verses.

The root د-ر-ك: to overtake, to reach — and from there darak, a step descending downwards.

And it must be recorded that this is the root's third occurrence in the sūra: at the seventy-eighth verse there was yudrikkumu'l-mawt, at the hundredth yudrikhu'l-mawt. Here the same root returns as a noun.

The hundred and forty-sixth verse describes the way out of the description with four verbs:

And the second item must be recorded: the root ص-ل-ح occurs in this sūra for the fifth time. The root's distribution in the sūra was set out in a table in the discussion of the hundred and fourteenth verse; this row is added to it.

Iʿtaṣamū — root ع-ص-م: to hold a thing, to protect, to hold back. ʿIṣma — being protected. Form VIII: to hold fast.

And the form of the return must be recorded: fa-ulāʾika maʿa'l-muʾminīn — "these are with the believers".

This is the same structure as in the sixty-ninth verse (fa-ulāʾika maʿa'lladhīna anʿama'llāhu ʿalayhim). In both places the sūra gives the return as a companionship.

The hundred and forty-seventh verse is a question, and it closes the block.

And the structure of the question must be recorded: after a heavy description comes a sentence asking why punishment should be needed.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the place of the sentence: the block closes not with a threat but with the possibility of the threat being lifted. And the condition has two items: in shakartum wa āmantum.

And the verse-ending must be recorded: wa kāna'llāhu Shākiran ʿAlīmā — the root ش-ك-ر is used in the same verse both of the servant and of God. This is a countable fact.