مَا لَكُمْ إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمُ ٱنفِرُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ٱثَّاقَلْتُمْ إِلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ
Yā ayyuha'lladhīna āmanū mā lakum idhā qīla lakumu'nfirū fī sabīli'llāhi'ththāqaltum ila'l-arḍ; a-raḍītum bi'l-ḥayāti'l-dunyā mina'l-ākhira; fa-mā matāʿu'l-ḥayāti'l-dunyā fi'l-ākhirati illā qalīl · Illā tanfirū yuʿadhdhibkum ʿadhāban alīman wa yastabdil qawman ghayrakum wa lā taḍurrūhu shayʾā; wa'llāhu ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr
"O you who believe! What is the matter with you, that when you are told, 'Go out in the way of God,' you sink heavily to the ground? Are you content with the life of this world in place of the hereafter? The enjoyment of the life of this world is but little beside the hereafter. · If you do not go out, He will punish you with a painful punishment and put another people in your place, and you will do Him no harm at all. God has power over everything."
The concrete sense of the root: to startle, to spring from one's place, to leave in haste. The lexicographers explain the root by way of an animal taking fright and bolting. From the same root:
| Derivative | Meaning |
|---|---|
| نَفَرَ (nafara) | He took fright and fled; he went out to a task at a run |
| نُفُور (nufūr) | Shying away in fright |
| نَفِير (nafīr) | A group going out to a task together |
| ٱسْتَنفَرَ | He startled; he called out to the field |
The root was treated in al-Mulk at 67/21, in al-Muddaththir at 74/50 (ka-annahum ḥumurun mustanfira — startled wild asses) and in al-Isrāʾ at 17/41 (mā yazīduhum illā nufūrā).
I record this as an observation about the language, and convey it as the lexicographers give it: the same root states both fleeing and going out. The idea in common is not staying in one's place — the difference of direction comes afterwards.
And this coincides with the sūra's axis: the second axis of the sūra was sitting and rising. The root of the word stands exactly on that axis.
This is one of the most concrete words of the sūra, and the task requires that I open out its picture.
The sense of the root: weight. Thiql — a load; thaqīl — heavy. The root was treated in al-Zilzāl at 99/2 (athqālahā), in Fāṭir at 35/18 (muthqalatun), in al-Muzzammil at 73/5 (qawlan thaqīlā) and in al-Raḥmān at 55/31 (al-thaqalān).
The verb here is in a particular form: ٱثَّاقَلْتُمْ. Its original is tathāqaltum (Form VI, tafāʿala) — the form that states reciprocity and gradualness. The tāʾ has been assimilated to the thāʾ, and a connecting hamza has come at the head.
What Form VI states here, according to the lexicographers, is this: a state's coming about of itself and little by little — a person's surrendering to the weight.
The concrete picture of the word is this, and I give it as an observation about the language: a body that has been asked to rise, left to its own weight and sinking towards the ground. It is not pushed, not felled — its own weight draws it down.
| Verb | Root | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Infirū | ن-ف-ر | To spring from one's place — up and out |
| Iththāqaltum | ث-ق-ل | To sink to the ground — down and in |
Two verbs in the same sentence, one a command and one a reproach. I record this as my own reading: the sentence sets two opposite movements side by side and thereby shows the distance.
I record this as an observation of grammar: the sentence sets up an exchange. And the question is a-raḍītum — "are you content?" It speaks, that is, as though a choice had been made.
The root ب-د-ل: to put another thing in the place of a thing. The root was treated as a weave running between al-Fatḥ 48/15 and 48/23; I rely on that treatment.
I record this as an observation: the verse says that the place of the one addressed can be filled. And it continues with wa lā taḍurrūhu shayʾā: there is no harm to be done.