al-Shūrā 42:52

Wa kadhālika awḥaynā ilayka rūḥan min amrinā; mā kunta tadrī ma'l-kitābu wa la'l-īmān; wa lākin jaʿalnāhu nūran nahdī bihi man nashāʾu min ʿibādinā; wa innaka la-tahdī ilā ṣirāṭin mustaqīm

"And thus We revealed to you a spirit from Our command. You did not know what the Book was, nor what faith was; but We made it a light by which We guide whom We will of Our servants. And you indeed guide to a straight path."

The triad recorded in the section on the structure of the sūra is completed here:

The seventh and fifty-second verses use the same verb in the same pattern; what changes is the name of what is revealed.

This is a verifiable fact. The same thing is named twice, and the two names give two different aspects.

And the open question recorded at the third verse closes here: what did kadhālika point to? The fifty-first verse enumerated the three ways; the fifty-second says "thus".

The root was treated in detail in al-Wāqiʿa at 56/89 (rawḥ wa rayḥān). The table there was this:

And the shared core recorded there was this: "the lexicographers generally give it as 'moving air': the wind blows, the breath goes in and out, scent is carried on the air, relief is the opening of what was tight."

I do not repeat it. What belongs here is the word's use for revelation.

Rūḥ is what separates the living from the lifeless. And revelation's being named with this word is seen elsewhere in the Qurʾān too:

"He sends down the angels with a spirit from His command upon whom He wills of His servants." (al-Naḥl 16/2) "He casts the spirit from His command upon whom He wills of His servants." (al-Muʾmin 40/15)

In all three verses there is the same construction: min amrih / min amrinā. This is a verifiable fact.

And the word al-amr has been understood here in two ways:

I impose no preference.

There are two main readings of what the word answers to in this verse:

The first reading is the more widespread and the pronoun structure of the sentence supports it. But I impose no preference.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the sense of the root drawn out in al-Wāqiʿa:

Revelation is named here neither "knowledge" nor "news". It is named rūḥ.

And the difference between rūḥ and ʿilm is this: knowledge is added, spirit brings to life. Knowledge is set upon a thing; spirit is what makes that thing be.

And the continuation of the sentence supports this: jaʿalnāhu nūrā — "We made it a light". Light too is not something added; it is the condition of visibility.

The two words — rūḥ and nūr — do the same work: both are themselves unseen but make other things possible.

This sentence must be dwelt on carefully, and comparing it with al-Aḥqāf 46/9 gives the right frame.

First I set the two verses side by side:

And this comparison shows a line. What was recorded for that verse in al-Aḥqāf was this:

"This sentence is one of the most limiting expressions the Qurʾān puts into its prophet's mouth, and it must be treated honestly… What is to be recorded is this: the sentence states a limit… And immediately afterwards it is said where the source is: the knowledge is not from himself."

Al-Shūrā 42/52 says the same thing but changes the tense. In al-Aḥqāf the limit still stands; in al-Shūrā the moment at which the limit was crossed is recounted — and the one who crossed it was not himself.

Together, then, the two verses draw this line:

This is a verifiable fact and I record it: the limit is not lifted, it moves.

And the second object of the sentence (al-īmān) has been dwelt on, because taken at its wording it touches a sensitive matter.

First I record what the wording says: the sentence does not say "you were not a believer". It says "you did not know" — the verb is darā, not āmana.

The chief readings transmitted in the classical commentaries:

All four readings are transmitted in the classical sources. I impose no preference.

And I enter a note of method: the state of the prophets before revelation is a heading that has been debated in the history of theology. This commentary does not enter into that debate. What is to be recorded is that the wording of the verse speaks of knowledge.

And the discussion at al-Ḍuḥā 93/7 (wa wajadaka ḍāllan fa-hadā) was treated within the same frame; I rely on it and do not repeat it.

The sentence is built with two instruments of emphasis: inna + la-. And what it says sets up a contrast with the sentence immediately before it:

In the same verse, about the same person: he did not know, and he guides.

I record this as my own reading: the two sentences standing side by side is enough to show the source of the guiding. A person who did not know turning into a guide recounts what happened in between without stating it.

And the object of the verb must be recorded: tahdī ilā ṣirāṭin mustaqīm — "you guide towards a straight path". What one is brought to, that is, is the path itself. Guidance here is not arrival but setting out on the road.

And the next verse will give the name of that path.

The word ṣirāṭ was treated in detail in al-Fātiḥa (ihdina'ṣ-ṣirāṭa'l-mustaqīm) and occurred in Muḥammad as well; I do not repeat it. Its summary: a ṣirāṭ is the wide, open main road that everyone travels; the origin of the word is related to swallowing (sariṭa) — the road that takes the traveller into itself.