al-Muzzammil 73:1

Yā ayyuha'l-muzzammil "O you wrapped in your covering!"

Root: ز-م-ل. The field of meaning the lexicons give runs along two branches, and the second branch is at least as important for this verse as the first.

First branch — to wrap oneself, to cover oneself.

• تَزَمَّلَ (tazammala) — he wrapped himself in a covering, he wound a cloth about himself.
• زِمْل / زُمْلَة (ziml / zumla) — a wrapped bundle, a pack, a load bound together.

At the centre of the root there is a movement: to wrap something up and gather it together. The person who wraps himself in a covering gathers himself up too; the cloth wraps the body, the body's outlines blur, the person becomes a bundle.

Second branch — to share a load, to be a travelling companion.

• زَمِيل (zamīl) — a travelling companion; in particular one who shares the same mount, one of the two who ride the same camel, one in front and one behind.
• زَامِلَة (zāmila) — a beast of burden; a camel set aside for carrying loads.
• مُزَامَلَة (muzāmala) — companionship on the road, the carrying of a load in common.

In Turkish, the borrowed zâmil, and the zemîl that is still alive in some dialects, come from this branch.

What is the link between the two branches? The explanation the lexicographers record is this: in both there is a binding together, a winding around one another. When a bundle is tied, the things inside it are wrapped against each other; when two people mount one camel, the two lean on each other and carry the load in common. The root describes two things becoming a single load.

I do not present this relation as a settled judgement in etymology; it is a link the lexicographers make. But it needs recording, because it works in the place where the verse stands.

Let us now go back to the verse.

The addressee is called as one who covers himself. And two verses later a load will be given to him: "We shall lay upon you a heavy word" (73/5).

The same root carries both "the one who wraps himself" and "the sharer of a load". And the sūra is about exactly this: someone who has wrapped himself coming under a load.

I record this as an inference, as my own reading. The verse does not say that it is using this second sense, and most of the classical commentaries proceed on the first. But the second branch of the root is recorded in the lexicons, and its overlap with the content of the sūra is striking: the man wrapped in his covering is about to be made the sharer of a load.

And there is a difference: a bundle is wrapped around itself, a zamīl leans on another. The first is a closing-in, the second a partnership. The sūra takes its addressee out of the first and moves him into the second.

The word is originally al-mutazammil.

The active participle of Form V: مُتَزَمِّل (mutazammil). Its meaning: one who wraps himself, who performs the covering himself.

The basic function of this form (Form V) is the reflexive sense (muṭāwaʿa) and the person's performing the act upon himself: tanazzala (he came down), takabbara (he made himself great), tadhakkara (he remembered). The covering, then, is not something done from outside; it is something the addressee did himself.

Then comes assimilation (idghām): the sound ت (tāʾ) turns into the ز (zāy) that follows it, and the two zāys merge and take a shadda.

This is a widespread and regular sound change in Arabic: the tāʾ at the head of Form V, when the letter after it is close to it in sound, turns into that letter and merges with it. There are examples of similar mergers in the Qurʾān (iddāraʾtum — al-Baqara 2/72; iththāqaltum — al-Tawba 9/38). And the nearest example — the first word of the next sūra: al-mutadaththir → al-muddaththir.

And here is the fine point. The two sūras open with two words that have undergone the same sound change. In both the tāʾ drops and merges into the following letter; in both the word shortens and tightens.

I record this as an observation about the sound. But this much can be said: assimilation is two letters entering one another and becoming one letter — and both words carry the sense of "wrapping, going inside". This overlap between the structure of the word and its meaning is striking; I write it as an observation, not as a claim.

This is the single most important point in the sūra, and it is usually passed over quickly.

The Qurʾān uses particular patterns when it addresses the Prophet:

The first two patterns call a status: you are the messenger, you are the prophet. The last two call a posture: you are the one who is wrapped up right now.

And this changes the distance of the address entirely.

To address a person by the name of his office raises him; to address him by his state comes close to him. This is the difference between "O teacher" and "you there, standing at the door". The first is institutional, the second personal — and the second implies that the one calling sees the one addressed.

That is, the verse knows the addressee's physical condition at that moment and calls him out of that condition. This is the source of the closeness that both sūras set up.

And one more observation. These two addresses stand at the head of two sūras that are placed among the early positions in the lists of the order of revelation. That is, before the attributes of office are yet in place; before the addressee has begun to be called "prophet" or "messenger". I do not present this ordering as a settled chronology — it was recorded above that the lists are a matter of scholarly judgement. But this much can be said: the address uses the state before the attribute.

A misreading must be closed off from the start.

The verse does not scold the addressee for having covered himself. There is no particle of blame in the sentence, no question, no kallā. There is only a call — and after the call a command will come.

In the classical commentaries this address is said to convey kindness and gentleness; it is read as a person being taken from the state he is in and called to a new work. This reading fits the text.

And one thing more: covering oneself is the first thing a person does when he is cold or shaken. The verse does not count that reflex a fault. It counts it a starting point.

ٱلْمُزَّمِّلُ comes with the article al- at its head, that is, definite.

In Arabic the pattern yā ayyuha'l-… requires a definite noun in any case; in that respect there is no surprise. But it produces another effect: definiteness reduces the addressee to one.

Not "O someone who is covered", but "O (that known) covered one". It is assumed that there is no other covered person present, or that the one meant is known.

This raises the closeness of the address one degree further: the one who calls knows whom he is speaking of and has no need to say it.