Tafseer of The Pen · Al-Qalam · 68:6
Which of you is the afflicted [by a devil].
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.
His statement: بِأَيِّيكُمُ الْمَفْتُونُ ("which of you is the afflicted / the demented one"). The exegetes have differed over its interpretation. Some said: its interpretation is: which of you is the demented one (al-majnūn), as if he directed the meaning of the letter bāʾ in His statement بِأَيِّيكُمُ ("by which of you") toward the meaning of fī ("in"). And when one directs the bāʾ toward the meaning of fī, then the interpretation of the words is: they will see in which of the two groups the demented one is — in your group, O Muḥammad, or in their group — and then "the demented one" (al-majnūn) is a noun placed in the nominative by the bāʾ.
* Mention of those who construed its meaning thus: which of you is the demented one.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: بأيكم المفتون ("which of you is the afflicted one"), he said: the demented one.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of Mujāhid بِأَيِّيكُمُ الْمَفْتُونُ ("which of you is the afflicted one"), he said: which of you is the demented one.
Others said: no, its interpretation is: in which of you is the dementia (al-junūn). It is as if those who made this statement directed al-maftūn ("the afflicted") toward the meaning of al-fitna ("the affliction") or al-maftūn as a verbal noun, as one says: "he has no maʿqūl and no maʿqūd," that is, in the meaning: he has no intellect (ʿaql) and no firmness of judgment (ʿaqd raʾy); thus one put al-maftūn in the place of al-futūn (dementia/affliction as a state).
* Mention of those who said: al-maftūn means the verbal noun, and means dementia:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his statement بِأَيِّيكُمُ الْمَفْتُونُ ("which of you is the afflicted one"), he said: the satan.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement بِأَيِّيكُمُ الْمَفْتُونُ ("which of you is the afflicted one"): he means the dementia.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he says: in which of you is the dementia.
Others said: no, its meaning is: which of you is the one most attached to the satan. The bāʾ, according to the statement of these, is redundant, its presence and absence being equal. These compared that with the statement of the rajaz-poet:
"We are the sons of Jaʿda, the lords of al-Falaj, We strike with the sword and hope for deliverance (bi-l-faraj),"
in the meaning: we hope for deliverance (narjū al-faraj). The insertion of the bāʾ therein is, according to them, in this place equivalent to its omission.
* Mention of those who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his statement فَسَتُبْصِرُ وَيُبْصِرُونَ بِأَيِّيكُمُ الْمَفْتُونُ ("you will see and they will see which of you is the afflicted one"); he says: which of you is the one most attached to the satan.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his statement بِأَيِّيكُمُ الْمَفْتُونُ ("which of you is the afflicted one"), he said: which of you is the one most attached to the satan.
The Arabic linguists have differed over this in a manner resembling the difference of the exegetes. Some grammarians of Basra said: its meaning is: you will see and they will see which of you is the afflicted one. And some grammarians of Kūfa said: بأيكم المفتون ("by which of you is the afflicted one") here means the dementia, and it lies along the line of al-futūn, as they said: "he has no maʿqūl and no maʿqūd." He said: and if you wish, you construe بأيكم ("by which of you") as fī ayyikum ("in which of you"), that is: in which of the two groups the demented one is. He said: and then it is a noun, not a verbal noun.
The most correct of the statements concerning this, in my view, is the statement of him who said: its meaning is: in which of you is the dementia, and who directed al-maftūn toward al-futūn in the meaning of the verbal noun, because that is the clearest of the meanings of the words, provided one does not intend to omit the bāʾ, and we assign to its presence an intelligible function.
And we have already explained that it is not permissible for there to be anything in the Qurʾān that has no meaning.
-----------------
Footnotes:
(2) The two verses are of the mashṭūr al-rajaz metre, and belong to the testimonies of Abū ʿUbayda in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 179) of the university reproduction from the manuscript "Murād Mullā" in Istanbul. He said concerning His statement, the Exalted, بأيكم المفتون ("which of you is the afflicted one"): its meaning is: which of you is the afflicted one, as the first (poet) said: "We are the sons of Jaʿda…". The proof in it is that the bāʾ in his word bi-l-faraj, that is "we hope for deliverance," is added just as it is added in the verse. The two verses are by al-Nābigha al-Jaʿdī. And testimony has already been given previously with both verses concerning a similar place in part (18: 14); consult that.
