al-Nisāʾ 4:94-96

Yā ayyuha'lladhīna āmanū idhā ḍarabtum fī sabīli'llāhi fa-tabayyanū wa lā taqūlū li-man alqā ilaykumu'l-salāma lasta muʾminan tabtaghūna ʿaraḍa'l-ḥayāti'l-dunyā, fa-ʿinda'llāhi maghānimu kathīra, kadhālika kuntum min qablu fa-manna'llāhu ʿalaykum fa-tabayyanū

"O you who believe! When you set out in the way of God, ascertain the facts. Do not say to one who offers you peace, seeking the passing gain of this world, 'you are not a believer'. With God there is abundant gain. You yourselves were like that before, and God bestowed His favour upon you. So ascertain the facts."

The root ب-ي-ن: to separate two things, to bring to clarity. Bayn — the space between; tabayyun (Form V) — to wait for and to search out the coming to light of a thing.

And that the command occurs twice in the verse must be recorded: the sentence opens with fa-tabayyanū and closes with fa-tabayyanū.

This is a countable fact, and I record it as my own reading: the verse places all the intervening grounds between the two commands. The command to ascertain, that is, stands both before the grounds and after them.

The same root was treated at al-Ḥujurāt 49/6 (in jāʾakum fāsiqun bi-nabaʾin fa-tabayyanū), and there the discussion was the verification of news. I rely on that treatment.

The two verses use the same verb on two separate subjects.

The verse relates directly a sentence that is forbidden to be spoken: lasta muʾminan — "you are not a believer".

And the ground of the prohibition is given right beside it: tabtaghūna ʿaraḍa'l-ḥayāti'l-dunyā.

ʿAraḍ — root ع-ر-ض: to come crosswise, to come up in front of one. The word means "what comes up in one's path, what is passing", and it is used as the opposite of jawhar (what endures).

I record this as an observation about word order: the verse says that behind a judgement passed about someone else there may lie an interest — and it sets this down as an indication that puts the validity of the judgement in question.

"You yourselves were like that before."

And where the sentence stands must be recorded: immediately after a prohibition against passing judgement.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the order of the sentence: by reminding the one addressed of his own past, the verse blocks his judging the person before him. This is the same method treated at al-Anfāl 8/26 — there too, in the middle of a dispute over spoils, a past weakness was recalled. I rely on that treatment.

While comparing those who stay behind with those who strive, the verse lays down an exception: ghayru uli'l-ḍarar — "except those with an impediment".

The root ض-ر-ر: harm; and from there, an obstacle, an excuse.

And the presence of the exception must be recorded: while stating a superiority, the verse takes the one without means out of the comparison.

This will be done once more, and in more detail, in the ninety-seventh verse — there the place where an excuse is accepted will be counted out plainly.