6/42-45 — The doors thrown open
Wa laqad arsalnā ilā umamin min qablika fa-akhadhnāhum bi'l-baʾsāʾi wa'l-ḍarrāʾi laʿallahum yataḍarraʿūn · Fa-law lā idh jāʾahum baʾsunā taḍarraʿū wa lākin qasat qulūbuhum · Fa-lammā nasū mā dhukkirū bihi fataḥnā ʿalayhim abwāba kulli shayʾin ḥattā idhā fariḥū bimā ūtū akhadhnāhum baghtatan fa-idhā hum mublisūn
"We sent messengers to communities before you, and We seized them with hardship and affliction, that they might humble themselves. If only they had humbled themselves when Our might came upon them! But their hearts hardened… When they forgot what they had been reminded of, We opened upon them the doors of everything. Then, just as they were exulting in what they had been given, We seized them suddenly, and all their hope was cut off."
| Stage | Method | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baʾsāʾ wa ḍarrāʾ — hardship | Qasat qulūbuhum — hardening |
| 2 | Fataḥnā ʿalayhim abwāba kulli shayʾ — the doors of everything | Fariḥū bimā ūtū — exultation |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the order of the verses: the second stage comes as the opposite of the first. That is, when constraint did not work, abundance is given — and abundance too works as a trial.
The pair ب-ا-س and ض-ر-ر was treated at al-Baqara 2/214 (massathumu'l-baʾsāʾu wa'l-ḍarrāʾ). I rely on that treatment.
فَرِحُوا۟ بِمَآ أُوتُوٓا۟ — the root ف-ر-ح was treated at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/75 (the difference between faraḥ and maraḥ) and at al-Raʿd 13/26.
مُّبْلِسُون — root ب-ل-س: to lose hope and fall silent. The lexicographers explain iblās as "the tongue being seized by helplessness"; it is also recorded that the name Iblīs is connected with this root. The root was treated in al-Zukhruf.
And the analysis of mutraf (one spoilt by abundance) was treated at Sabaʾ 34/34-37; the same root had occurred at al-Wāqiʿa 56/45 as well. These verses show the mechanism of that line.