يا أيها الذين أوتوا الكتاب آمنوا بما نزلنا مصدقا لما معكم … إن الله لا يغفر أن يشرك به ويغفر ما دون ذلك لمن يشاء · ألم تر إلى الذين يزكون أنفسهم بل الله يزكي من يشاء
Yā ayyuha'lladhīna ūtu'l-kitāba āminū bimā nazzalnā muṣaddiqan limā maʿakum … Inna'llāha lā yaghfiru an yushraka bihī wa yaghfiru mā dūna dhālika li-man yashāʾ · A-lam tara ila'lladhīna yuzakkūna anfusahum, bali'llāhu yuzakkī man yashāʾ
"O you who were given the Book! Believe in what We have sent down, confirming what is with you… God does not forgive that partners be associated with Him; what is other than that He forgives for whom He wills. Have you not seen those who declare themselves pure? No — it is God who purifies whom He wills."
The root ص-د-ق was treated at the fourth verse of this sūra (ṣaduqātihinna). I rely on that treatment.
Muṣaddiq — active participle: one who confirms. And the form of the call must be recorded: the verse does not ask those addressed to abandon what they hold but to believe in something that confirms what they hold.
This sentence occurs twice in the sūra: at the forty-eighth verse and at the hundred and sixteenth. The two occurrences are almost identical, and the only difference is in one word.
| Verse | Sentence | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| 48 | Wa yaghfiru mā dūna dhālika li-man yashāʾ | — |
| 116 | Wa yaghfiru mā dūna dhālika li-man yashāʾ | The verse continues on with wa man yushrik bi'llāhi fa-qad ḍalla ḍalālan baʿīdā |
That two verses repeat the same sentence is a countable fact. And the places of the repetition must be recorded: one inside an address to the People of the Book, the other inside the discussion of Satan's promise. The same sentence, for two different parties addressed.
And the structure of the sentence is worth recording: one exception is laid down (lā yaghfiru an yushraka bihī) and everything else falls within the scope of forgiveness (mā dūna dhālika). The narrowing half of the sentence is a single item; the widening half is without limit.
The root's original sense: to increase, to grow; and from there, to be purified, to be clean. The lexicographers record these two sides of the root — increase and purification — together: a thing grows when it is cleared of foreign elements.
The same verb, with two different subjects, in a single verse. This is a fact of word order that can be verified.
I record this as my own reading: the verse does not forbid the act — it changes its subject. Purification, that is, is not rejected; what is rejected is the judgement a person passes about himself.
And the same field was treated at al-Najm 53/32: fa-lā tuzakkū anfusakum huwa aʿlamu bi-mani'ttaqā. The two verses use the same verb and the same direction.