إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يُجَٰدِلُونَ فِىٓ ءَايَٰتِ ٱللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ سُلْطَٰنٍ أَتَىٰهُمْ إِن فِى صُدُورِهِمْ إِلَّا كِبْرٌ مَّا هُم بِبَٰلِغِيهِ
"In the breasts of those who dispute about the signs of God without any proof having come to them there is nothing but a craving for a greatness they will never reach."
The first half of the verse is word for word the same as verse 35. I tabulated this repetition in the section on structure.
| Expression | What it says |
|---|---|
| In fī ṣudūrihim illā kibr | What lies beneath the dispute is a craving for greatness |
| Mā hum bi-bālighīh | And they will not reach it |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the sentence itself: the verse names not the visible subject of the dispute but the desire behind it. And it adds that the desire goes unanswered: a greatness that cannot be reached.
And this diagnosis coincides with the third block of the sūra: Pharaoh's wish to have a tower built (36-37) was exactly an attempt to climb to a height that cannot be reached. The same verb (bulūgh — to reach) had been used there too: laʿallī ablughu'l-asbāb.
| Verse | Who | What he wants to reach | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | Pharaoh | Al-Asbāb — the ways of the heavens | By means of a tower |
| 56 | Those who dispute | Kibr — greatness | Mā hum bi-bālighīh |
This is a link that can be verified within the sūra and it shows why the narrative is told in precisely this sūra.
فَٱسْتَعِذْ بِٱللَّهِ — and the command: take refuge. The same command had occurred in the same form at Fuṣṣilat 41/36 (fa'staʿidh bi'llāh) and was treated there.