قَدْ نَعْلَمُ إِنَّهُۥ لَيَحْزُنُكَ ٱلَّذِى يَقُولُونَ فَإِنَّهُمْ لَا يُكَذِّبُونَكَ وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ بِـَٔايَٰتِ ٱللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ
"We know that what they say grieves you. In truth they are not calling you a liar; rather those wrongdoers knowingly deny the signs of God."
| What is rejected | What is accepted |
|---|---|
| Lā yukadhdhibūnaka — they are not calling you a liar | Bi-āyāti'llāhi yajḥadūn — they deny the signs |
The ج-ح-د root: to deny knowingly. The root was treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/26 and al-ʿAnkabūt 29/47, and the relation the lexicographers record with "the barrenness of soil" (arḍun jaḥād) was given there. I do not repeat it here.
I record this as my own reading: the verse does not take the grief away — it corrects its target. The words spoken appear to be aimed at the person; the verse takes this out of being a personal matter.
And this is one link in the line of limit treated at al-Kahf 18/6, al-Shuʿarāʾ 26/3, Fāṭir 35/8 and Luqmān 31/23 — but it has a difference: the others were limiting responsibility; this verse changes what the grief is directed at.