al-Aʿrāf 7:20-21

Fa-waswasa lahumā'sh-shayṭānu li-yubdiya lahumā mā wūriya ʿanhumā min sawʾātihimā wa qāla mā nahākumā rabbukumā ʿan hādhihi'sh-shajarati illā an takūnā malakayni aw takūnā mina'l-khālidīn · Wa qāsamahumā innī lakumā la-mina'n-nāṣiḥīn

"Then Satan whispered to them, to make plain to them what had been covered from them of their shameful parts, and he said: 'Your Lord forbade you this tree only lest you become two angels or become of those who abide for ever.' · And he swore to them: 'I am indeed one of those who wish you well.'"

The root و-س-و-س: a very light, continuous sound, a sound at the level of a whisper. The lexicographers explain waswasa by "the faint sound made by ornaments touching one another". In respect of its pattern it counts as a sound-imitating word (onomatopoeia). The root was treated in al-Nās (al-waswāsi'l-khannās) and at 20/120 in Ṭāhā. I rely on those treatments.

What belongs here is a difference of particle, and it must be recorded:

There are two differences: the number of those addressed, and the particle.

Ilā states direction ("towards him"); the lām here means "for them, to them". The lexicographers record that the usage waswasa lahū carries the tone "he whispered for him, as though on his side". This is a transmitted report; I do not give it as a settled ruling.

And the number of those addressed must be recorded: in al-Aʿrāf the whispering is to the two of them at once. At 2/35-36 in al-Baqara the coming of the verbs in the dual and the Qurʾān's not blaming the woman separately were treated; I rely on that treatment. Al-Aʿrāf strengthens that datum: the addressee of the whispering is dual as well.

Sawʾa is the singular of sawʾāt; the root س-و-أ: to be bad, to be ugly. Sūʾ, sayyiʾa, aswaʾ are from the same root. Sawʾa is used in the sense of "the place whose exposure is not welcome", and this is a covering that comes from the word itself.

A point of word order must be recorded: the word is not directly the name of an organ. That is, the Qurʾān names the place that is to be covered not by its name but by its quality.

I record this as an observation: the word is itself a covering. And the word occurs five times in this sūra — 20, 22, 26, 27 (twice). Three of the five occurrences are in the yā banī Ādam section. That is, what is named in the story is bound immediately afterwards to the reader.

The root و-ر-ي: to cover, to conceal. The same root will be repeated in verse 26 as yuwārī sawʾātikum.

A point of word order: wūriya is a passive verb — "that which had been covered". The agent is not stated.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the voice of the verb: the text does not say "what they had covered" or "what God had covered"; it says only "what had been covered". And in the twenty-sixth verse the same root will come back in the active: libāsan yuwārī sawʾātikum — there what covers is clothing, and that clothing has been sent down (anzalnā). A relation of answer can be drawn between the two verses; but I give this not as a certainty, only as a possible reading.

The twentieth verse gives Iblīs's sentence in full, and this sentence is found nowhere else in the Qurʾān:

Mā nahākumā rabbukumā ʿan hādhihi'sh-shajarati illā an takūnā malakayni aw takūnā mina'l-khālidīn

The construction of the sentence is a restriction (ḥaṣr, qaṣr): mā … illā — "He did not forbid it, except for this".

That is, Iblīs alters the ground of the prohibition: the prohibition is presented not as protection but as obstruction.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the grammatical structure of the sentence: Iblīs does not deny the prohibition. He accepts that it exists, and renames its intention. And this is an operation of the same kind as the syllogism in the twelfth verse: there a false conclusion was added to true premises; here a false ground is added to a true piece of knowledge (that there is a prohibition).

There is a variant reading in this word that changes the meaning, and it must be recorded:

The first reading is the widespread one; the second is also transmitted. I do not impose a preference.

As ground for the second reading the sentence at 20/120 in Ṭāhā is cited: hal adulluka ʿalā shajarati'l-khuldi wa mulkin lā yablā — "the tree of immortality and a kingdom that does not decay". That is, the two things promised in Ṭāhā are immortality and kingship.

The two sūras can be compared, and the table can be verified from the text:

In both sūras the second thing is the same: immortality. In the first thing the widespread reading of al-Aʿrāf says "angel", that of Ṭāhā says "kingdom". This promise was treated at 20/120-123 in Ṭāhā; I rely on that treatment.

I record this as an observation: both promises are promises of crossing man's limit — one of kind (to become an angel or a king), the other of duration (to become deathless). And read together with the four directions of the seventeenth verse, it becomes visible that Iblīs's offers are always a promise of widening. This is an explanation, not a ruling.

The root ق-س-م: to divide, to apportion; qasam is an oath. Qāsama is a verb of Form III (فَاعَلَ), and this form in Arabic states reciprocity.

A point of word order must be recorded, and the lexicographers have recorded it: qāsamahumā — "he exchanged oaths with them". The verb is in a pattern that implies not merely that Iblīs swore, but as though there were a mutual swearing.

Two explanations are transmitted:

Both explanations are transmitted; I do not impose a preference.

I record this as my own reading and it is not binding: the choice of the verb shows that the deception is built not like a one-way assault but like an exchange. And the verb dallāhumā in the next verse will look to the same place.

The root ن-ص-ح: to make a thing pure and unmixed (honey is called nāṣiḥ, "unmixed") and to sew up a tear (niṣāḥa — sewing). Both branches are recorded: counsel carries both the idea of sincerity and the idea of mending.

And this must be recorded — it is a pattern that can be verified within the sūra: the same root occurs four times in the sequence of prophets in al-Aʿrāf, and in all four it is used of true prophets.

Five occurrences: one in the mouth of Iblīs, four in the mouths of prophets.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the five verses themselves: the sūra puts the same claim into the mouth of the liar and of the truthful alike — and shows what separates them not in the words but in the outcome. Ṣāliḥ's sentence in the seventy-ninth verse is the ground of this reading: wa lākin lā tuḥibbūna'n-nāṣiḥīn — "but you do not love those who wish you well." That is, the truth of the words is not measured by their being accepted.