al-Ḥadīd 57:19

Wa'lladhīna āmanū bi'llāhi wa rusulih, ulāʾika humu'ṣ-ṣiddīqūn; wa'sh-shuhadāʾu ʿinda rabbihim lahum ajruhum wa nūruhum; wa'lladhīna kafarū wa kadhdhabū bi-āyātinā ulāʾika aṣḥābu'l-jaḥīm "And those who believe in God and His messengers — they are the ṣiddīqūn. And the witnesses are with their Lord; theirs is their reward and their light. And those who deny and reject Our signs — they are the companions of the blaze."

The pattern: فِعِّيل (fiʿʿīl). In Arabic this is a strong intensive pattern: one who does the act much, who has made that quality a habit. Like sikkīr (a heavy drinker), khimmīr.

Ṣiddīq means one who greatly affirms the truth. And affirming can go in two directions: being truthful in one's own word, and confirming another's truth. The lexicographers record both.

The Qurʾān uses this word of several persons: Abraham (Maryam 19/41), Idrīs (Maryam 19/56), Joseph (Yūsuf 12/46 — there as a form of address), and Mary (al-Māʾida 5/75).

And at al-Nisāʾ 4/69 an ordering of ranks is made: the prophets, the ṣiddīqūn, the witnesses, the righteous. In al-Ḥadīd 57/19 the two middle steps of that ordering — the ṣiddīqūn and the witnesses — are named side by side.

The striking side of the verse is this: this high rank is given not in return for some very particular condition but in return for faith. "Those who believe in God and His messengers — they are the ṣiddīqūn."

This is a kind of raising. And in the context of the sūra it is meaningful: in verse 16 those who believe were reproached; three verses later the same group is given a higher rank.

In this part of the sentence there is a disagreement of iʿrāb (syntax), and it directly affects the meaning:

Both readings have been defended in the classical sources. The difference is whether wa'sh-shuhadāʾ attaches to the preceding clause or begins a new one.

I impose no preference. But this must be said: on the second reading an emphasis is lost. The first reading raises ordinary believers to the rank of ṣiddīq and witness, which accords with the encouragement in the verse's context.

Root: ش-ه-د: to be present, to be a witness. Shāhid is a witness; shahāda is witnessing; mashhad is the place where something is witnessed.

The word's sense of "one who gives his life" is not its primary sense in the Qurʾān; it is a usage that settled later. In the Qurʾān shahīd is overwhelmingly in the sense of witness: "God is witness over everything", "that you may be witnesses over mankind."

This is a point that must be recorded, because the present-day rendering "martyr" overshadows the word's Qurʾānic sense. Which sense the verse means here is disputed, and there is room for both readings.

The light-texture of the sūra continues here. In verse 12 the believers' light was running; in verse 13 the hypocrites asked for light and were not given it; here light is named together with the reward as a return.

And in verse 28 light will come again as something to be given: "He will give you a light by which you will walk."

The sequence of the four occurrences marks out a path:

• 9: bringing out of darkness into light (the source)
• 12-13: having light and not having it (the division)
• 19: light as a return (the recompense)
• 28: light being given and being walked in (request and promise)