al-Aʿrāf 7:182-186

Wa'lladhīna kadhdhabū bi-āyātinā sa-nastadrijuhum min ḥaythu lā yaʿlamūn · Wa umlī lahum, inna kaydī matīn · A-wa lam yatafakkarū, mā bi-ṣāḥibihim min jinna, in huwa illā nadhīrun mubīn · A-wa lam yanẓurū fī malakūti's-samāwāti wa'l-arḍi wa mā khalaqa'llāhu min shayʾin wa an ʿasā an yakūna qadi'qtaraba ajaluhum, fa-bi-ayyi ḥadīthin baʿdahū yuʾminūn · Man yuḍlili'llāhu fa-lā hādiya lah, wa yadharuhum fī ṭughyānihim yaʿmahūn

"Those who called Our signs lies — We shall draw them on step by step from where they do not know. · I grant them respite. My devising is firm. · Have they not thought? There is no madness in their companion. He is only a plain warner. · Have they not looked into the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and into whatever God has created, and considered that their term may have drawn near? In what account after this will they believe? · Whomever God leaves astray, there is no guide for him; He leaves them in their overstepping, wandering blindly."

The root د-ر-ج: a step, a degree; and to advance step by step. Daraja is from the same root. Form X (istadraja) — to bring someone to a place step by step, without his noticing.

And the qualification set beside the word must be recorded: min ḥaythu lā yaʿlamūn — "from where they do not know".

I give this as a note about the word, and its ground is the concrete sense of the root: the word builds the picture not of a sudden seizure but of an unnoticed approach. And this accords with the ninety-fifth verse of the sūra: there abundance had been given, and then they were seized suddenly.

وَأُمْلِى لَهُمْ — the root م-ل-و/م-ل-ي: to lengthen a span, to grant respite. Malā — a long time.

كَيْدِى مَتِينٌ — the root م-ت-ن: the strong muscle of the back and loins; and from this, firmness, endurance.

And for the word kayd, the note of tanzīh entered for makr at the ninety-ninth verse holds here too. I do not repeat it.

This verse closes the ring opened in the sixty-third and sixty-ninth verses of the sūra. This link is read from the text:

And the choice of the word must be recorded: ṣāḥibihim — "their companion".

The root ص-ح-ب: to be together, to accompany. Ṣāḥib is the one in whose company one is, the one who is known.

I record this as my own reading and it is not binding; its ground is the word itself: the answer is given not by a lining up of proofs but by a reminder of acquaintance. The verse says "you know him". And this is the answer to the objection rajulun minkum (a man from among yourselves) in the stories: nearness is counted not as a reason for objection but as evidence.

The root م-ل-ك: to own, to hold command. The pattern malakūt in Arabic states intensity: dominion in its widest and most encompassing form.

It was recorded at 23/88 in al-Muʾminūn: the word occurs in four places in the Qurʾān — al-Anʿām 6/75, al-Aʿrāf 7/185, al-Muʾminūn 23/88, Yā Sīn 36/83. I rely on that treatment.

And the choice of construction must be recorded: a-wa lam yanẓurū fī malakūt — the particle fī (into). Not "to look at" but "to look into".

I record this as an observation about word order, and its ground is the particle.

The phrase was tabulated in al-Muʾminūn, where its regular occurrences in the Qurʾān were counted — al-Baqara 2/15, al-Anʿām 6/110, al-Aʿrāf 7/186, Yūnus 10/11. I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it.

And in the section on the structure of the sūra this sentence was recorded as the closing sentence of the eighth block.