al-Ṭūr 52:38

Am lahum sullamun yastamiʿūna fīh; fal-yaʾti mustamiʿuhum bi-sulṭānin mubīn "Or have they a ladder on which they climb up and listen? Then let their listener bring a clear authority."

Root: س-ل-م. And it is striking: the same root as salām, islām, taslīm.

The link the lexicographers record: سُلَّم — a ladder; what brings a person up in safety. I attribute this explanation to the lexicographers; I do not present it as a settled etymology.

And the word's other use in the Qurʾān confirms this: "If you could seek out a tunnel into the earth or a ladder into the sky…" (al-Anʿām 6/35) — there too the word occurs as a means of climbing to the sky.

And to understand what the question is one must go back to the section on Sūrat al-Jinn.

What was treated in the discussion of al-Jinn 72/9; I do not repeat it here. Its summary:

"We used to sit there in places to listen. But now whoever listens finds a flame waiting for him." (72/9)

And what was recorded there: مَقَاعِد (places to sit) and لِلسَّمْع (in order to listen) were analysed; it was stated that the lām conveys purpose and that the aim of the sitting was to get knowledge. And a comparison was made with istamaʿa (to give ear) in the first verse of that sūra, and it was recorded that the same root is used for two separate kinds of listening: "one permitted, one not. The first leads to guidance, the second finds a flame."

And the verses about the guarding of the sky had been gathered there (al-Ḥijr 15/16-18; al-Ṣāffāt 37/6-10).

And al-Ṭūr 52/38 uses the same verb: يَسْتَمِعُونَ — istamaʿa.

What is to be added here is that the question adds something new.

What was told in Sūrat al-Jinn was the jinn's listening to the sky. In al-Ṭūr the question is put to human beings: have you such a ladder?

And al-Ṭūr's demand asks for something different from what Sūrat al-Jinn tells.

In Sūrat al-Jinn the stealing of knowledge was told. In al-Ṭūr, if the knowledge has been received, its being shown is demanded: fal-yaʾti mustamiʿuhum bi-sulṭānin mubīn.

That is, the question is this: if you reject the hereafter, where did you get this knowledge? From above? Then bring it.

And the word sulṭān was treated in the discussion of al-Dhāriyāt 51/38 (bi-sulṭānin mubīn, of Moses); I do not repeat it here. Its summary: the word means both proof and authority, and its root is "to overcome".

And two neighbouring sūras use the same construct:

al-Dhāriyāt 51/38: bi-sulṭānin mubīn was given to Moses. al-Ṭūr 52/38: bi-sulṭānin mubīn is demanded of the deniers.

In one the proof has been given, in the other it is asked for. I record this as a comparison.

And this question is the plainest example of the series' general method.

The knowledge of a person who speaks with certainty on a matter rests either on observation or on report. The hereafter cannot be known by observation — it has not yet happened. Then report remains.

And report can come only from above. The question makes this concrete: have you a ladder?

The concreteness of the image of the ladder carries the mocking side of the question. But the mockery does not weaken the argument — on the contrary, it makes visible what the claim requires.

I record this as an observation about word order.