Surah 39. Az-Zumar, Ayah 23

Lit., "has been bestowing from on high", i.e., step by step. The verbal form nazzala indicates both gradualness and continuity in the process of divine revelation and may, therefore, be appropriately rendered by the use of the present tense.

This is the most acceptable meaning, in this context, of the term mathani (pl. of mathna), as explained by Zamakhshari in his commentary on the above verse. Another possible meaning, preferred by Razi, is "pairing its statements", i.e., referring to the polarity stressed in all Qur'anic teachings (e.g., command and prohibition, duties and rights, reward and punishment, paradise and hell, light and darkness, the general and the specific, and so forth). As regards the inner consistency of the Qur'an, see also 4:82 and 25:32 , as well as the corresponding notes.

See note [4] on 14:4 .

Or: "He guides therewith whomever He wills", either of these two formulations being syntactically correct.

Is Mutashabih here to be understood in the same sense as in iii. 7? See n. 347. The better opinion is that there is a slightly different shade of meaning here, as suggested by the context. In the earlier passage, it was opposed to Muhkam: here it is contrasted or compared to Mathani. The root meaning is: 'having something similar; working by analogy or allegory, or parable; having its parts consistent with each other'. The last meaning I adopt here. The Qur-an was revealed in parts at different times. And yet its parts all conform to each other. There is no contradiction or inconsistency anywhere.

Mathani: Cf. xv. 87, where we have translated "oft-repeated": "the seven oft- repeated (verses)". See n. 2008 to that passage. Here the meaning is similar, but the context gives a different colour to it, as is seen in the translation.

The skin is the outer integument of the body. It receives the first shock from the impact of anything unusual, and it trembles and its hair stands on end under excitement. So in spiritual matters the first stimulation from Allah's Message is external. Those who receive Faith do it as it were with tremor and not with apathy. But the next stage is that it penetrates their outer nature and goes right into their hearts. Their whole nature is "softened" to receive the beneficent Message, and it transforms them through and through.

"Whom He pleases" and "leaves to stray" are explained fully in n. 2133 to xvi. 93. See also xiv. 4 and n. 1875.