فَلَا ٱقْتَحَمَ ٱلْعَقَبَةَ
The structure of the sentence is at first sight odd for those who know Arabic: لَا + a perfect verb.
In Arabic lā is generally used for negation with the imperfect. To negate a perfect verb mā would be expected. The pattern lā + perfect does exist, but its rule is this: normally it is repeated.
"He neither affirmed nor prayed" (fa-lā ṣaddaqa wa lā ṣallā) — al-Qiyāma 75/31
Two lās, two perfect verbs. In al-Balad 90/11 there is a single lā and it is not repeated. This has been a matter the classical lexicographers dwelt on.
The first — the repetition is there, but hidden. The verses that follow (13-16) count the content of the ascent; the negation is in fact distributed over all of them. The sense "he neither loosed a slave nor fed anyone" is hidden in the structure.
The second — the reading of taḥḍīḍ (urging/reproach). The lā here is not a negation but an expression of reproach-and-urging: "If only he had thrown himself at that ascent!" In Arabic the reproach felt at a thing's not having been done, together with the implication that it ought to be done, can be expressed by this pattern. This reading agrees better with the detailed description that follows in the sūra — because the description seems less to relate what a thing not done was than to relate what ought to be done.
The third — the reading as a prayer or imprecation. The pattern lā + perfect is also used in Arabic for a prayer. On this reading the sentence becomes an imprecation. This view has been found weak and does not suit the tone of the sūra.
My assessment — it is not binding: the second reading is the one that best fits the flow of the text, but there is no practical difference between it and the first: on either reading the man has not thrown himself at the ascent, and it is expected that he should. The difference is whether the sentence is a statement or a reproach. In English it is hard to reflect both at once; "he did not throw himself in" keeps the statement, "if only he had thrown himself in" keeps the reproach.
The concrete sense of the root: to plunge into a thing without thinking, without reckoning, with one's eyes shut. To throw oneself into a dangerous place. Qaḥama — he drove his horse into a place, he plunged in. Quḥma — hardship, distress; it also carries the sense of famine.
The pattern: افتعال (iftiʿāl). This pattern in Arabic conveys that the act is performed by the person's own effort and taken upon himself. Iqtaḥama, that is, is not "he plunged" but "he forced himself into it".
The word conveys an absence of calculation, a recklessness, a lunge. The English "to throw oneself in", "to plunge", "to chance it" come near it.
There is one further usage from the same root in the Qurʾān, and there the sense is plain: of a community thrown into Hell it is said "this is a company plunging in with you" (Ṣād 38/59); there too the word describes a mass being pushed into a place and plunging in.
Root: ع-ق-ب. The family of senses of the root is wide, and all of them come out of the idea of "coming behind, following after":
- ʿaqib — the heel; the back part of the foot. ʿAlā ʿaqibayhi — on his heels, that is, to turn back.
- ʿāqiba — the end of a matter, what comes after.
- ʿiqāb — punishment; what comes after the offence.
- taʿqīb — following, pursuing.
- ʿaqaba — a steep ascent, a mountain pass, a sharp slope.
How does the last sense arise? The steps of a person walking up a slope follow one another, and every step is above the one before. ʿAqaba is a place that is climbed and that requires step after step.
The concrete counterpart of the word: in the geography of Arabia an ʿaqaba is the narrow and steep pass between two mountains. It is the point at which caravans have the hardest time and are at their most exposed — they slow, they have to go in file, it is the place most open to ambush. There are passes of this kind in and around Mecca and their names are known. The word was, in the eye of the addressee, not an abstract "hardship" but a form of terrain he knew.
A historical note: a place near Mecca called ʿAqaba occurs in the biographical sources as the site of the pledges made between the group from Medina and the Prophet. I make no claim that the verse points to this; I record it as an example showing the word's use as a place name.
Iqtaḥama + ʿaqaba — the image of the sentence is this: to throw oneself, without reckoning, without blinking, at a steep ascent.
The choice of words says something: to go up the ascent is not a slow and calculated business. Iqtiḥām requires letting go of the reckoning. Because when it is reckoned it is not done.
This will agree exactly with the acts the verse is about to describe. To buy a slave and set him free, to give away the food in one's hand on a day of famine — these are things not done when the reckoning is made. The reckoning says, "myself first".
- The man was created in hardship (4).
- He supposed that no one had power over him (5).
- He said he had spent wealth in heaps (6).
- He supposed that no one had seen him (7).
- Yet he had been given his eye, his tongue, his lips and the knowledge of the two ways (8-10).
- But he did not throw himself at the ascent (11).
The man had spent, that is — but he had not thrown himself at the ascent. This is the sharpest distinction in the sūra: to spend and to throw oneself at the ascent are not the same thing. There is no contradiction between the "wealth in heaps" of the sixth verse and the "he did not throw himself" of the eleventh; two separate things are being spoken of.