al-Inshiqāq 84:20-21

Fa-mā lahum lā yuʾminūn · Wa idhā quriʾa ʿalayhimu'l-Qurʾānu lā yasjudūn "So what is the matter with them, that they do not believe? And that when the Qurʾān is recited to them they do not prostrate themselves?"

In Arabic the construction مَا لَـ + pronoun asks the cause of a behaviour and generally conveys astonishment. Like the English "what is the matter with them?" or "what is it with these people?"

The Qurʾān uses this construction in several places: "What is the matter with them, that they turn away from the reminder?" (al-Muddaththir 74/49).

The question is not a question for information but a question of objection. What is asked is not "what is the cause"; what is said is "there is no cause at all". For nineteen verses the proofs have been set out; the verse now declares by a question that denial is without ground.

Note: in the nineteenth verse the address was in the second person (la-tarkabunna — "you shall mount"). In the twentieth it turns all at once to the third person (lahum — "them").

This is the manner of iltifāt (a shift in the direction of address), treated several times in this commentary. Its function here is marked: the addressee is pushed from the party spoken to into the party spoken about. The word said to his face turns into a word said behind his back.

This is a move that puts distance. And it prepares the hardness of the ruling in the following verses.

Root: ق-ر-أ. This root was treated in the section on Sūrat al-ʿAlaq; the field of meaning of the root and the derivation of the word Qurʾān from it were taken up there, so I do not repeat them.

What belongs to this place is the verb's coming in the passive: quriʾa — "is recited". Who recites is not said.

The function of this choice is: the matter is not the identity of the reciter. Whoever recites, the attitude taken towards what is recited is the same. The text stands before the addressee independently of the reader.

Root: س-ج-د. To bend, to put the forehead to the ground, to submit.

And the expectation of prostration here is very important. Right after saying "they do not believe" the verse says "they do not prostrate themselves". The two have been set one after the other.

Recall the sentence at the beginning of the sūra:

وَأَذِنَتْ لِرَبِّهَا وَحُقَّتْ — "and it listened to its Lord; and so indeed it had to."

The sky listened. The earth listened. And now: the Qurʾān is recited, and man does not bend.

Nowhere does the sūra say this opposition outright. But what it sets up is plain: man does not give the answer the universe gives.

And there is one more detail at the level of language. The verb in the second verse is أَذِنَتْ — its root udhun (the ear). In the twenty-first verse the Qurʾān is recited (it comes to the ear) and no answer is given. The same organ, two different outcomes.

There is a prostration at this verse. In the copies of the muṣḥaf the sign of prostration (۩) is placed at the end of the verse.

Its ground is reports found in the hadith sources: it is transmitted that the Prophet prostrated himself at the sūra "Idha's-samāʾu'nshaqqat". This report is found in the sound hadith collections; rather than give a definite attribution as to the transmitter and the full text, I content myself with recording that the report exists.

Its legal status is disputed and no ruling is issued in this commentary; I content myself with conveying the views of the schools:

I do not give detailed attributions to the schools, because not to mention names where I cannot be certain is the rule of this commentary.

But this literary point is independent of the legal debate: the verse blames the failure to prostrate; and the reader, while reciting that verse, prostrates himself. That is, the exact opposite of the behaviour the verse blames is actually carried out by the reciting of the verse. The text makes its reader fill the very gap it criticises.