Read · 7 min · Optional
Four words carry this passage: the portion written for each person, the camel at the eye of the needle, what a soul can carry, and the guidance the people of Paradise give thanks for. Two of them you already know in Indonesian: nasib and hidayah.
نَصِيبُهُم
naṣībuhum · 7:37 · ▶ hear ayah 37
Saheeh International: “their portion” — Those will attain their portion of the decree
- Meaning in context
- Their portion: what was written for them. Al-Tabari records six views of what it is, and prefers this one: what was written for them in this life, good and bad, their provision, their deeds and their lifespan. His reason is in the ayah. The portion lasts “until when Our messengers come to them to take them in death”. So even the one who lies about Allah still receives his portion, until then. Indonesian has the word as nasib, fate or lot, and kept the sense al-Tabari chose. What the ayah adds is the limit: the portion ends at death.
- Root
- ن ص ب n-ṣ-b. Lane gives the verb first as “He set up, put up, set upright, erected, a thing”. A naṣīb is “A share, or portion, or lot”, “a set portion”, and he adds that it seems to mean manṣūb, “what is set”. Corpus root ↗ · Lane's Lexicon ↗
- For reflection
- What was written for you will reach you. Think of one thing you are worried about this week. Does holding on to that change how you work, or how you worry?
- In this surah
- Only here, 7:37.
Grammar, counts and cross-references
- Grammar
- Noun — nominative masculine, with the possessive pronoun “their” (3rd person masculine plural). The thirteenth word of 7:37. Corpus 7:37 word by word ↗
- Elsewhere in the Qur'an
- The root occurs 32 times in six derived forms; the noun naṣīb 21 times. Two of them:
- 4:7 لِلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا تَرَكَ الْوَالِدَانِ وَالْأَقْرَبُونَ — “For men is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave.”
- 28:77 وَلَا تَنْسَ نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا — “do not forget your share of the world.”
On the tafsir page → Al-Tabari's six views and his reason are in the optional note under ayah 37. Al-Jalalayn says the portion is what is written for them in the Preserved Tablet.
ٱلْجَمَلُ
al-jamalu · 7:40 · ▶ hear ayah 40
Saheeh International: “a camel” — until a camel enters into the eye of a needle
- Meaning in context
- A camel, and a big one. Al-Tabari reports Ibn ʿAbbas: the great camel, too big for the hole of the needle. Right after it comes سَمِّ ٱلْخِيَاطِ ۚ sammi l-khiyāṭi, the eye of the needle. Al-Jalalayn says it plainly: “which is impossible and so is their entry into Paradise.” The ayah does not just say “never”. It shows a camel and a needle. There is no natural Indonesian cousin here; unta and jarum are other words.
- Root
- ج م ل j-m-l. Lane: jamal is the male camel, “among camels, corresponding to” rajul, a man, “among us”. On this ayah he records that Ibn ʿAbbas reads al-jummal, “and so do 'Alee and many others”: a cable, “the rope of a ship”. The same root gives jamāl, beauty (16:6), and ṣabrun jamīl, beautiful patience (12:18, 12:83). Corpus root ↗ · Lane's Lexicon ↗
- For reflection
- Think of a picture from the Qur'an that has stayed with you longer than any rule. What made it stay?
- In this surah
- Only here. Jamal occurs once in the whole Qur'an, and so do samm and khiyāṭ.
Grammar, counts and cross-references
- Grammar
- Noun — nominative masculine. The seventeenth word of 7:40. Sammi and l-khiyāṭi are both genitive masculine nouns: “the eye of the needle”. Corpus 7:40 word by word ↗
- Elsewhere in the Qur'an
- The root occurs 11 times in five derived forms. Two of its cousins:
- 77:33 كَأَنَّهُ جِمَالَتٌ صُفْرٌ — “As if they were yellowish [black] camels.” The plural, jimālat, occurs only there.
- 16:6 وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا جَمَالٌ حِينَ تُرِيحُونَ وَحِينَ تَسْرَحُونَ — “And for you in them is [the enjoyment of] beauty”, said of livestock.
On the tafsir page → The recited text says al-jamal, the camel. Al-Tabari records al-jummal, a thick rope like a ship's cable, as a reading reported from Ibn ʿAbbas and others, and rules that the reading all the regional readers agree on is the one to keep.
وُسْعَهَآ
wusʿahā · 7:42 · ▶ hear ayah 42
Saheeh International: “its capacity” — We charge no soul except [within] its capacity
- Meaning in context
- What a soul can hold. The sentence sits in the middle of the promise of Paradise, between “those who believed and did righteous deeds” and “Those are the companions of Paradise”. Al-Jalalayn and al-Qurtubi both call it a parenthesis. Al-Tabari: Allah does not charge a soul with deeds beyond what it can bear, so that it is not put in hardship. Ibn Kathir: faith and acting on it are made easy. There is no everyday Indonesian cousin.
- Root
- و س ع w-s-ʿ. Lane's first example of the verb is a vessel: “The vessel was sufficient in its capacity or dimensions”, large enough for the goods put in it. The noun saʿa, from the same root, is “capacity, or power, or ability”. Corpus root ↗ · Lane's Lexicon ↗
- For reflection
- Is there someone whose load you judge without knowing what they can carry? What would it mean to give them the measure Allah gives?
- In this surah
- The noun only here. The verb of the same root comes twice: 7:89, “Our Lord has encompassed all things in knowledge”, and 7:156, “My mercy encompasses all things.” What is asked of us is measured to our wusʿ, and His mercy wasiʿat, encompasses, all things. That pairing is our observation, not a commentator's.
Grammar, counts and cross-references
- Grammar
- Noun — accusative masculine, with the possessive pronoun “its” (3rd person feminine singular, for nafs, soul). The verb before it, نُكَلِّفُ nukallifu, “We charge”: 1st person plural, form II, imperfect. Corpus 7:42 word by word ↗
- Elsewhere in the Qur'an
- The root occurs 32 times in six derived forms. The noun wusʿ occurs five times, and all five are this one promise: 2:233, 2:286, 6:152, 7:42 and 23:62. Two of them:
- 2:286 لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا — “Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity.”
- 6:152 وَأَوْفُوا الْكَيْلَ وَالْمِيزَانَ بِالْقِسْطِ لَا نُكَلِّفُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا — “We do not charge any soul except [with that within] its capacity.”
On the tafsir page → Al-Tabari's word for hardship comes from the same root as ḥaraj, the word of 7:2 that session 01 looked at.
هَدَىٰنَا
hadānā · 7:43 · ▶ hear ayah 43
Saheeh International: “has guided us” — Praise to Allah, who has guided us to this; and we would never have been guided if Allah had not guided us
- Meaning in context
- What the people of Paradise say is about guidance, and the root comes three times in one breath: هَدَىٰنَا hadānā, لِنَهْتَدِىَ linahtadiya, هَدَىٰنَا hadānā. Al-Tabari: “guided us” means He gave us success in the deeds that earned this. Al-Qurtubi: He guided us and created the guidance for us. Indonesian hidayah comes from this root, and so does hadiah, a gift. The Qur'an has the gift word too, at 27:35.
- Root
- ه د ي h-d-y. Lane: “He directed him, or guided him, to the way”. And hadiyya: “A present; i. e. a thing sent to another in token of courtesy or honour”. Corpus root ↗ · Lane's Lexicon ↗
- For reflection
- Think of how you came to the practice you have now. Who and what did Allah send along the way?
- In this surah
- Nineteen times in this surah, by the corpus count. At 7:30, which session 04 read: “A group [of you] He guided”. Here three times in one ayah. And at 7:178: “Whoever Allah guides - he is the [rightly] guided”.
Grammar, counts and cross-references
- Grammar
- hadānā: verb — 3rd person masculine singular, perfect, with the object pronoun “us”. linahtadiya: the particle li, “to”, then a form VIII verb — 1st person plural, imperfect, subjunctive: “to be guided”. Corpus 7:43 word by word ↗
- Elsewhere in the Qur'an
- The root occurs 316 times in 12 derived forms: the verb hadā, to guide, 144 times, and the form VIII verb ihtadā, to be guided, 40 times. Two of the root's other words:
- 27:35 وَإِنِّي مُرْسِلَةٌ إِلَيْهِمْ بِهَدِيَّةٍ فَنَاظِرَةٌ بِمَ يَرْجِعُ الْمُرْسَلُونَ — “But indeed, I will send to them a gift”, the queen's words. The gift word, hadiyya, occurs twice.
- 2:196 فَإِنْ أُحْصِرْتُمْ فَمَا اسْتَيْسَرَ مِنَ الْهَدْيِ — “what can be obtained with ease of sacrificial animals”: hady, the animal brought for sacrifice on hajj.
On the tafsir page → Al-Tabari and al-Qurtubi on “guided us” are in the optional notes under ayat 42–43. That hidayah and hadiah share a root is a fact of the language; any lesson drawn from it is a reflection, not the commentators' reading.
More words to notice
- أَظْلَمُ aẓlamu · ٱفْتَرَىٰ iftarā · 7:37
- “More unjust” and “invents”. The Qur'an says aẓlam, more unjust, 16 times, and 9 of them pair it with iftarā, to invent a lie: 6:21, 6:93, 6:144, 7:37, 10:17, 11:18, 18:15, 29:68 and 61:7 (our count from the corpus). The root ظ ل م occurs 315 times. Indonesian zalim. The same root ends ayah 41: al-ẓālimīn, the wrongdoers.
- يَتَوَفَّوْنَهُمْ yatawaffawnahum · 7:37
- “To take them in death.” Al-Tabari: the angels take them in full, from this world to the next. The root و ف ي occurs 66 times; this form of the verb 24 times. Indonesian wafat. In this surah again at 7:126, where the magicians pray: “let us die as Muslims”.
- لَّعَنَتْ laʿanat · 7:38
- “It cursed.” The root ل ع ن occurs 41 times; this verb 23 times. Indonesian laknat. The next ayah, 7:44, has the noun laʿnat.
- أُخْتَهَا ۖ ukhtahā · 7:38
- “Its sister.” Al-Tabari: its sister in religion and creed, the nation that went the same way. Ukht occurs 14 times. Only here and at 43:48, of signs, “greater than its sister”, is it said of something other than a person. Many of us know it as ukhti.
- ٱدَّارَكُوا۟ iddārakū · 7:38
- “They had overtaken one another”, until all of them are inside. Al-Jalalayn: they followed and caught up with one another. The root د ر ك occurs 12 times; this form of the verb 3 times.
- ضِعْفًۭا ḍiʿfan · ضِعْفٌۭ ḍiʿfun · 7:38
- “Double.” Twice in this ayah: the followers ask for a double punishment for their leaders, and are told “For each is double”. Lane: in the language of the Arabs the word “means the like: this is the original signification”, the like of a thing, that doubles it. Al-Tabari gives the same sense. The root ض ع ف occurs 52 times; this nominal 11 times. At 33:68 the followers ask with the same word: “Our Lord, give them double the punishment”.
- فَضْلٍۢ faḍlin · 7:39
- “Favor” — the leaders' answer, “you had not any favor over us”. The root ف ض ل occurs 104 times; this noun 84 times. Indonesian fadilah and afdal come from the same root.
- أَبْوَٰبُ abwābu · 7:40
- “The gates.” Bāb occurs 27 times. At 38:50 the gates open the other way: “Gardens of perpetual residence, whose doors will be opened to them.”
- يَلِجَ yalija · 7:40
- “Enters.” Al-Tabari: walaja is to enter. The corpus glosses it “to penetrate, to pass”; this form of the verb occurs 3 times.
- مِهَادٌۭ mihādun · 7:41
- “A bed.” Al-Tabari: what is spread out to sit and lie on, like a bed or a rug. Mihād occurs 7 times. The same root gives mahd, the cradle, at 19:29.
- غَوَاشٍۢ ۚ ghawāshin · 7:41
- “Coverings.” Al-Tabari: the plural of ghāshiya, what covers from above. The same word gives al-Ghāshiyah, the name of Surah 88, which many of us know from ṣalāh: “Has there reached you the report of the Overwhelming [event]?”
- غِلٍّۢ ghillin · 7:43
- “Resentment.” Lane: “Rancour, malevolence, malice, or spite”, and also “envy”, and he names this ayah and 15:47. Lane numbers the ayah vii. 41, after an older edition. Ibn Kathir: envy and hatred. Al-Jalalayn: the spite that was between them in this world. The corpus puts it under the root غ ل ل, which also gives the shackles of 7:157; the noun occurs 9 times. The first core narration on the hadith page shows how it is removed. Lane's Lexicon ↗
- أُورِثْتُمُوهَا ūrithtumūhā · 7:43
- “You have been made to inherit it.” Lane: waritha, “He inherited”. The root و ر ث occurs 35 times; this form of the verb 12 times. Indonesian waris, warisan, ahli waris. The same word ends 43:72: “And that is Paradise which you are made to inherit for what you used to do.”
Self-check
Find the word in the ayah, then open the answer.
Which word in ayah 37 means “their portion”?
نَصِيبُهُم
naṣībuhum — the thirteenth word.
Which word in ayah 40 is the camel?
ٱلْجَمَلُ
al-jamalu — the seventeenth word, just before the eye of the needle.
Which word in ayah 42 means “its capacity”?
وُسْعَهَآ
wusʿahā — the ninth word.
Which word comes twice in ayah 43, meaning “guided us”?
هَدَىٰنَا
hadānā — the fifteenth word, and again as the twenty-second.
| Word | Transliteration | Ayah |
|---|---|---|
| نَصِيبُهُم | naṣībuhum | 7:37 |
| ٱلْجَمَلُ | al-jamalu | 7:40 |
| وُسْعَهَآ | wusʿahā | 7:42 |
| هَدَىٰنَا | hadānā | 7:43 |