Tafseer of Consultation · Ash-Shura · 42:35
And [that is so] those who dispute concerning Our signs may know that for them there is no place of escape.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
And His statement: (وَيَعْلَمَ الَّذِينَ يُجَادِلُونَ فِي آيَاتِنَا) — He, exalted is His praise, says: and so that those who dispute with His Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ, from among the polytheists (mushrikīn), concerning His signs, His lessons, and His proofs for His oneness (tawḥīd), would know.
The reciters (qurrāʾ) differed over the reading of this. Most of the reciters of Medina read it "وَيَعْلَمُ الَّذِينَ" in the nominative (rafʿ), as a new beginning (istiʾnāf), just as He said in Sūrat Barāʾa: وَيَتُوبُ اللَّهُ عَلَى مَنْ يَشَاءُ (And Allah turns in forgiveness to whom He wills). And the reciters of Kūfa and Baṣra read it (وَيَعْلَمَ الَّذِينَ) in the accusative (naṣb), just as He said in Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: وَيَعْلَمَ الصَّابِرِينَ (and so that He might know the steadfast), on the basis of the "ṣarf" construction; and as al-Nābigha said:
If Abū Qābūs perishes, then there perish the springtime of mankind and the sacred month;
And after him we cling to a meager remnant of life, a back without a hump, with a protrusion upon it. (2)
And the correct judgment concerning this is that they are two well-known readings and two well-known linguistic variants, close to one another in meaning; with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he is correct.
And His statement: (مَا لَهُمْ مِنْ مَحِيصٍ) — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: there is for them no escape from the punishment of Allah when He punishes them for their sins and their disbelief in Him, and there is for them no refuge from it.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His statement: (مَا لَهُمْ مِنْ مَحِيصٍ): there is for them no refuge.
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The footnotes:
(2) The two verses are by al-Nābigha al-Dhubyānī, from a poem in which he addresses ʿIṣām ibn Shahbara al-Jarmī, the chamberlain (ḥājib) of al-Nuʿmān, asking him about what had reached him concerning the latter's illness (Mukhtār al-shiʿr al-jāhilī, with commentary by Muṣṭafā al-Saqqā, p. 191). By his words "the springtime of mankind" he likens al-Nuʿmān to the spring in fertility, on account of his many bounties; and he is a place of safety against every fear for whoever seeks protection and for others, like the sacred month. And "a back without a hump" (ajabb al-ẓahr): he has no hump. And in "al-ẓahr" the following are permissible: the nominative, the accusative, and the genitive. He says: we remain after him in distress of life and in a wretched state. And "dhunāb" of a thing: its tail-end. The point of evidence in the two verses lies in his word "wa-naʾkhudh" (and we take), for in it the following are permissible: the nominative on the basis of a new beginning (istiʾnāf), the accusative with the implicit "an," and the jussive (jazm) by coordination with "yahliku" (Farāʾid al-qalāʾid by al-ʿAynī). And al-Farrāʾ said in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 292), concerning His statement "wa-yaʿfu ʿan kathīrin wa-yaʿlama lladhīna": this is reduced to the jussive, except that it has been turned away (ṣurifa) — (the accusative on the basis of the "ṣarf" construction is a doctrine of al-Farrāʾ concerning coordination with the jussive, as well as concerning the object of accompaniment [al-mafʿūl maʿah], and concerning the predicate of the subject when this is an adverbial qualifier [ẓarf]). He said: and the jussive, when the coordination following it is turned away from it, becomes accusative, as in the saying of the poet: "fa-in yahlik …" (the two verses). And the nominative is permissible in that which has been placed in the accusative on the basis of the ṣarf construction. A group read it thus and placed "wa-yaʿlamu lladhīna yujādilūna" in the nominative. And similar to it, belonging to what has been placed in the nominative with a new beginning, is: "wa-yatūbu llāhu min baʿdi dhālika ʿalā man yashāʾu" in Barāʾa. And were a [grammatical] factor to place "wa-yaʿlama" in the jussive, that would be correct. End of quotation.
