al-Zukhruf 43:36-37

Wa man yaʿshu ʿan dhikri'r-Raḥmāni nuqayyiḍ lahu shayṭānan fa-huwa lahu qarīn · Wa innahum la-yaṣuddūnahum ʿani's-sabīli wa yaḥsabūna annahum muhtadūn

"Whoever narrows his eyes against the reminder of al-Raḥmān, We fit a satan to him, and he becomes his inseparable companion. They turn these away from the road, while these suppose themselves to be on the right way."

The root occurred in al-Nāziʿāt as ʿashiyya (evening); I rely on that treatment. Here I open the branch of the root that has to do with the eye, because that is what is at work in this verse.

The concrete sense of the root: the weakening of the eye, not being able to see well in twilight.

• عَشَا / عَشِيَ — his eye grew weak; especially not being able to see at night or in twilight.
• الأَعْشَى — night-blind; one who sees by day and cannot see at dusk. (The by-name of the famous Arab poet al-Aʿshā comes from this; it is an example the lexicographers cite often.)
• عِشَاء — the night prayer; the hour when the light has withdrawn altogether.
• عَشَاء — the evening meal.

And the root has a second branch, and it matters in this verse: ʿashā ila'n-nār — he went towards the fire, narrowing his eyes. That is, the turning of one who sees poorly towards a light.

Now the construction of the verb in this verse:

Yaʿshu ʿan dhikri'r-Raḥmān — it comes with the preposition ʿan.

This gives rise to two readings, and the exegetes differ:

The first reading takes it as equivalent to aʿraḍa ʿan (he turned away). The second preserves the eye-sense of the root.

I do not impose a preference. But the concrete core of the root supports the second reading, and I record that as my own reading:

The verse does not say "the one who is blind". The word aʿmā (blind) will come separately in the fortieth verse: aw tahdi'l-ʿumy. The word chosen here is the word used for an eye that sees but cannot make out.

The difference is this, and it matters: the blind man sees nothing. The aʿshā sees — but sees blurred, and misidentifies what he sees.

And the continuation of the verse says exactly this: wa yaḥsabūna annahum muhtadūn — "they suppose themselves to be on the right way."

Between the defect of the eye in the thirty-sixth verse and the supposition in the thirty-seventh, that is, there is a direct link: the one who sees blurred does not know that he is not seeing; he supposes that he does see.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the two verses come one after the other.

The concrete sense of the root comes in the lexicographers from the egg: qayḍ — the shell of an egg. Taqayyaḍa'l-bayḍu — the egg broke, its shell came away.

And the second branch of the root: to put one thing in the place of another, to exchange, to match. Qāyaḍahu — he made an exchange with him. Qayyaḍa lahu — he matched something to him, set it upon him, fastened it on him.

The lexicographers make the link between the two branches thus: the eggshell fits exactly what is inside it; and muqāyaḍa is likewise one thing's coming exactly level with another. I transmit this explanation as it has been transmitted.

The sense of the word in this verse: to prepare one thing to fit another exactly, to match it to it.

I record this as an observation, and its ground is the root's core of "matching": the verse is not speaking of a random affliction. The word conveys a measured pairing.

And this is related to the sūra's question of measure — and comes from the same field as muqrinīn (to be a match) in the thirteenth verse. The two words are from different roots (ق-ي-ض / ق-ر-ن) and I make no derivational link between them; what I record is that both carry the sense of "coming level with".

The root was treated in detail in Qāf at 50/23 and 50/27; I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it. What was recorded there: "Concrete sense: to bind two things to one another, to pair them. Qarn — horn; and generation."

In Qāf qarīn occurred twice, and there too there was a scene of dispute (qāla qarīnuhu rabbanā mā aṭghaytuhu, 50/27).

What is particular to al-Zukhruf is this, and it must be recorded: here it is told how the companion comes.

And the structure of the conditional sentence must be recorded:

The condition: man yaʿshu ʿan dhikri'r-Raḥmān — the human act The apodosis: nuqayyiḍ lahu shayṭānan — the consequence

The order, then, is settled: first the narrowing of the eye, then the coming of the companion. I record this as an observation about the arrangement; this is the order the verse establishes.

The root ح-س-ب: to count, to reckon; and from there to suppose (to make a reckoning in the mind).

The link between the two branches of the root is worth recording: reckoning and supposing are from the same root. The lexicographers explain it thus: to suppose is to make a reckoning with the data in hand — but with incomplete data.

And the word muhtadūn comes for the third time in the sūra. The three-stage pattern set out above (in the discussion of 43/22) is completed here:

Four occurrences, one root. This is a verifiable datum of the text.