Tafseer of He frowned · Abasa · 80:4
Or be reminded and the remembrance would benefit him?
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: أَوْ يَذَّكَّرُ فَتَنْفَعَهُ الذِّكْرَى ("or take heed, so that the reminder may benefit him") (80:4). He says: or he takes the admonition to heart, so that the remembrance may benefit him — that is to say: he draws a lesson from it, so that the lesson and the admonition may be of profit to him. The reading is with a rafʿ ending (in the nominative): ( فتَنْفَعهُ ) ("so that it may benefit him"), in which case it is joined to His statement ( يَذَّكَّرُ ) ("he takes heed"). From ʿĀṣim both the naṣb (accusative) and the rafʿ (nominative) have been transmitted in this. The naṣb rests upon making it a response with the fāʾ to "laʿalla" ("perhaps that"), as the poet said:
Perhaps the turnings of fate, or its successive vicissitudes, will return to us a blow for its blows, so that the soul may find rest from its deep sighs, and the burning thirst be quenched of its bouts of thirst.
"wa-tunqaʿu" ("and be quenched") is transmitted both with rafʿ and with naṣb.
Footnote: these are four verses of the mashṭūr type of the rajaz metre; the first three of them have already been cited earlier as a proof-text in volume (2:74).
