أَمَّا مَنِ ٱسْتَغْنَىٰ فَأَنتَ لَهُۥ تَصَدَّىٰ وَمَا عَلَيْكَ أَلَّا يَزَّكَّىٰ
Ammā mani'staghnā Fa-anta lahu taṣaddā Wa mā ʿalayka allā yazzakkā "As for the one who counts himself self-sufficient — you turn towards him. Yet his not purifying himself is not your responsibility."
Verses 5-10 are built on Arabic's best-known pattern of division: أَمَّا ... فَـ ... وَأَمَّا ... فَـ
The function of ammā is twofold: it both separates the subject (tafṣīl) and adds emphasis. The lexicographers expound ammā as "mahmā yakun min shayʾin" (whatever the case may be); that is, "as for such a person, whatever the case may be, the situation is this". The fāʾ of the pattern is obligatory, and it glues the answer on.
| The first arm (5-7) | The second arm (8-10) | |
|---|---|---|
| The person | mani'staghnā — the one who counts himself self-sufficient | man jāʾaka yasʿā — the one who came to you running |
| His state | (not stated) | wa huwa yakhshā — and he feels khashya |
| His place in relation to you | lahu — towards him | ʿanhu — away from him |
| The verb | taṣaddā — you turn towards | talahhā — you busy yourself elsewhere |
- لِـ denotes turning towards, arrival, assignment.
- عَنْ denotes parting, moving away, leaving behind (mujāwaza).
The same logic of letters was dwelt on at al-Māʿūn 107/5: the difference between ʿan ṣalātihim (away from their prayer) and ʿalā ṣalātihim (upon their prayer). Here too the whole matter rests on two letters. The main load of the sentences is not on the verbs but on the letters.
One more nicety of word order: in both answers anta (you) is written out separately. In Arabic the verb already carries its subject; taṣaddā by itself means "you turn towards". The addition of the separate pronoun is for assignment and reinforcement: "it is you, precisely you". The same work as that done by the pronoun hum in al-Māʿūn. The act is nailed to its doer.
Root: غ-ن-ي. This word was treated in detail at al-Layl 92/8 and al-ʿAlaq 96/7; the findings there hold here too, I do not repeat them here. In summary: Form X here carries the function of "counting/seeing" — the word does not say "he became rich", it says "he did not see himself as needy". This is not a condition of wealth but a condition of conviction.
In al-ʿAlaq this conviction was bound to ṭughyān (overstepping the bound), in al-Layl to bukhl and takdhīb. ʿAbasa binds it to a third thing: to receiving attention.
And this is the most uncomfortable of the three. For what draws the attention is not the man himself; it is the weight created by the man's counting himself self-sufficient. A person who looks as though he needs no one appears as though everyone needs him. Istighnāʾ gains its owner a power of attraction.
The sūra's diagnosis lies exactly here: the supposal of needing nothing does not corrupt only the one who holds it; it corrupts the measure of everyone around him too. Because the man does not see himself as needy, the others count him valuable.
This mechanism can be named today as well: standing is most often gained by not appearing needy. And not appearing needy is not the same thing as not being needy.
There is one further place in the sūra where this root occurs, and it will be tied back to here: in the thirty-seventh verse it will be said that "each of them will have a concern of his own that suffices him (يُغْنِيهِ)". The same root. This turn will be come back to under the sūra as a whole.
Its original form is tataṣaddā; Form V, with one tāʾ dropped. It is also transmitted that in some variant readings it is read تَصَّدَّىٰ, with the assimilation of the tāʾ into the ṣād; the sense does not change, the reinforcement increases.
Root: ص-د-د / صدي. The lexicographers relate the word to صَدَد (the side of a thing that faces you, its front): "dārī ṣadada dārihi" — my house stands opposite his house. taṣaddā li-shayʾ — to place oneself opposite a thing, to turn towards it, to concern oneself with it, to be occupied with it.
The picture in the word is this: to place oneself opposite someone and give him one's face. That is, the exact opposite of the tawallā of the first verse (the turning of the back). In one verse the back, six verses later the face. The sūra uses the same movement of the body twice, in two different directions.
And the verb is imperfect: continuity, repetition. Not a one-off courtesy; a turning-towards that has become a habit. What the sūra criticises is not a moment but a tendency.
| Reading | Its meaning | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| "There is no responsibility on you" | His not purifying himself is not written to your account; you delivered the message, the rest is not your affair | The widespread reading. It agrees with other places in the Qurʾān: "Upon you is only the delivering of the message" (al-Shūrā 42/48); "You are not one who compels them" (al-Ghāshiya 88/22) |
| "What is it to you?" — a reproach | What is his not purifying himself to you? Why do you labour over it so much? | The pattern carries this sense in Arabic as well; it agrees with the context |
The two readings do not exclude one another, and both arrive at the same place: producing the outcome is not your affair.
And this shows the source of the mistake in the sūra's opening verses. The mistake arose not from ill intent but from taking ownership of the outcome. The moment a person counts himself responsible for the outcome, he begins to rank people according to their contribution to it. The ranking becomes unavoidable; for the time in his hands is limited, and he will want to put it where it is most productive.
The verse cuts the chain at its root: the outcome is not yours. If the outcome is not yours, there is no calculation of productivity either. If there is no calculation of productivity, there is no ranking either.
This is a word said about the delivery of the message, but it settles into a far wider place. A teacher, a physician, an administrator — anyone whose work deals with people — begins to sift people the moment he starts writing the outcome to his own account. And the first victim of the sifting is always the person whose return is uncertain.