وَإِنَّهُۥ لَعِلْمٌ لِّلسَّاعَةِ فَلَا تَمْتَرُنَّ بِهَا وَٱتَّبِعُونِ ۚ هَٰذَا صِرَٰطٌ مُّسْتَقِيمٌ · وَلَا يَصُدَّنَّكُمُ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ
Wa innahu la-ʿilmun li's-sāʿati fa-lā tamtarunna bihā wa'ttabiʿūn · Hādhā ṣirāṭun mustaqīm · Wa lā yaṣuddannakumu'sh-shayṭān · Innahu lakum ʿaduwwun mubīn
"He is a knowledge of the Hour; so do not be in doubt about it, and follow me. This is a straight path. And let Satan not turn you away; he is a plain enemy to you."
This verse is among the most debated places in the sūra, and two separate disagreements are entangled in it.
| View | What the pronoun refers to | The sense of the sentence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | To Jesus, the son of Mary | His case is a sign that the Hour will come |
| 2 | To the Qurʾān | This Book is what gives knowledge of the Hour |
| Reading | Written form | Its meaning |
|---|---|---|
| la-ʿilmun | لَعِلْمٌ | A knowledge — a source of knowledge, a sign |
| la-ʿalamun | لَعَلَمٌ | A mark, a token — a road-sign |
The second reading has also been transmitted. ʿAlam in Arabic means a marker stone set up on a road, a mountain, a banner — that is, a sign by which, once seen, one knows where one is.
I do not impose a preference and do not go into the detail, because the matter turns on transmission and the transmissions differ from one another in the detail.
This much can be recorded and follows from the text: the sentence does not state the time of the resurrection, it states that it will come. And the sūra will note this explicitly in the eighty-fifth verse: wa ʿindahu ʿilmu's-sāʿa — the knowledge of the Hour is with Him.
This limit was treated in al-Nāziʿāt, and this sūra was cited there: "The knowledge of the Hour is with Him." (Luqmān 31/34; al-Zukhruf 43/85; Fuṣṣilat 41/47). I rely on that treatment.
There is thus a balance within the sūra itself, and I record it as a datum of the text: the sixty-first verse gives a sign, the eighty-fifth says where the knowledge is. The two do not conflict: a sign shows that a thing will come, not when.
The concrete sense of the root comes from herding: marā'n-nāqata — to rub and stroke the she-camel's udder in order to milk her.
And from there: mirya — doubt, hesitation. The lexicographers make the link thus: like a udder being milked, to turn a matter over and over, to keep working at it. I transmit this explanation as it has been transmitted.
The picture of the word is worth recording: doubt, in the picture of the root, is holding a thing in the hand and rubbing it — not letting go, but not arriving at a conclusion either.
| Verse | Who says it | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| 43 | The text (to the Prophet) | innaka ʿalā ṣirāṭin mustaqīm |
| 61 | Disputed as to who | hādhā ṣirāṭun mustaqīm |
| 64 | Jesus | hādhā ṣirāṭun mustaqīm |
The pattern in the forty-third verse differs from the others: there the person is upon the path, here something is the path.
Whose mouth the expression wa'ttabiʿūn (follow me) in the sixty-first verse comes out of has also been debated — is it a command addressed to the Prophet, or the beginning of Jesus's words? In the sixty-third verse Jesus's words begin explicitly, and there too wa aṭīʿūn (obey me) occurs. This resemblance is counted a proof by those who support the second reading. I do not impose a preference.
The root ص-د-د for the third time in the sūra. I complete here the table I set out above (in the discussion of 43/57).
The verb comes with the heavy nūn of emphasis (nūn al-tawkīd al-thaqīla): yaṣuddannakum. This pattern is the strongest form of prohibition and warning in Arabic.
And the word for enmity will return in the sixty-seventh verse: baʿḍuhum li-baʿḍin ʿaduww. Two occurrences: one of Satan, the other of friends.