As-Sajdah 32:16 - Linguistic Miracle

“Their sides pull away from their beds, supplicating their Rabb in fear and aspiration, and from what We have provided them, they spend.”

There is an interesting word play here. The word تتجافى is translated as “pull away” while the word مضاجع is translated as “beds”. At their roots, تتجافى means for something to pull

away from where it would normally be while مضاجع means for something to come

down or collapse with weight as if being pulled down towards it. It is an image of something pulling away from something it is being drawn to, like a magnet trying to pull away from another magnet despite being attracted to it.

This is a symbol of letting go of desires. Desires are by nature things we are attracted to, which draw us, which pull us towards them yet despite this pressure, force and attraction, a person pulls away from them. This is what it represents in this verse and

them forsaking their beds to pray to God in the hours of the night is an example of this. It not only represents them leaving their beds to pray to God during the night, but also them leaving and pulling away from all prohibited desires. Beds are places where we lie down and rest. Similarly, desires are something in whom we find pleasure. We are naturally pulled towards them due to the pleasure they offer. Next, why does Allah say “their sides pull away from their beds” rather than simply saying

“they pull away from their beds ?” Because this creates imagery. Imagine a person is standing perfectly straight and looking straight ahead while one of his sides is being pulled towards something. Yet he stands his ground without even flinching or even leaning to one of his sides. He remains perfectly straight. It is not that his body does not move towards it; his sides do not. He is facing straight ahead and remains still, perfectly straight despite the strong force of attraction trying to pull him away to one of his sides.

The question now arises, why present this example specifically forsaking their beds? If the intention was to simply convey their forsaking of desires, other examples could have been presented as well.

The answer is that this is perfectly consistent with the theme and context of this surah. This surah earlier placed emphasis on the rūḥ- the spirit inside us. Here, Allah describes the believers as forsaking their sleep to call on Him. What is sleep? It is the sister of death. What is death? It is the removal of the spirit from the body as described earlier in this surah. The Qurʾān has stated that our spirits depart our body when we sleep, and Allah returns them to our bodies when we wake up. 128 This is a representation of death itself. When we sleep, our spirits leave our bodies and when we wake up, they return to our bodies. Similarly, when a person dies, his spirit leaves his body and this spirit will return to his recreated body, when he wakes up on judgment day.

The believers recognize the amr of Allah inside them and elsewhere. If you look at it another way, they prefer the state in which the rūḥ remains inside the body over the state in which it leaves them. They prefer comfort that is attained by having the rūḥ remain

inside them, over the comfort that is attained while it is not inside their bodies, unlike the disbelievers who entered Hell.

This not only describes their literal action, but also serves as an indirect expression of their recognition and belief in the amr of Allah inside them, in the form of the rūḥ. Allah singles out standing up and waking the nights in His worship, as an act that perfectly captures their belief in it.

128 Q. 39:42

Supplicating their Lord in fear and aspiration - طمع is slightly different from رجو both of

which mean hope or expectation. طمع is a feeling created when something you hope

for is within grasp.¹²⁹ For example, let’s say someone really wants to get a job but he has been unsuccessful. Suppose this person gives an interview and it went really well and he sees many signs that the company will accept him. He now feels as if his desire is within his reach and now eagerly anticipates the company to get back to him. This is طمع . He sees his desire getting closer and closer to him in such a way that he starts preparing himself to receive it. This is why this word was classically used to mean preparation.

Supplicating stands for not only calling to Allah but all forms of worship such as the five daily prayers because ultimately all forms of worship are us calling on Allah.

Now the verse does not specify what exactly they fear and desire. From the context, it is apparent that it is in fear of meeting the same fate as the disbelievers whose fate was described earlier and it is in hope of getting close to Allah. They call on Allah worship Him - in hopes of getting close to Allah. When you are accepted by Allah and recognize Him and who He is, you will naturally want to meet Him. Hence, this is how they prepare themselves to meet Allah. By coming close to Him.

From what We have provided them, they spend. - The word نفق is translated as spend. At its

root, it was actually used for a desert lizard that would dig two holes in the ground far away from each other. When a predator would come after it, it would enter the ground from one hole and exit from the other to escape.¹³⁰ The Qurʾān calls a hypocrite a munafiq which comes from the same root. They are so called because when being a believer is beneficial, they believe, but when being a disbeliever comes with worldly perks, they join the disbelievers just like the lizard which enters from one hole and comes out of the other. Now why does the Qurʾān use the same root for spending? To create an imagery. It is as if the one who spends for God, sends it forth via one hole, only to receive it back from the other. Or that he sends it down one hole - this life - and it comes back from the other - hereafter. Whatever they spend in this life, is repaid back to them in one shape or the other as the Qurʾān itself says:

وَمَا تُنفِقُوا۟ مِن شَىْءٍۢ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ يُوَفَّ إِلَيْكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تُظْلَمُونَ

Whatever you spend (same root) in Allah’s path will be repaid to you in full. You will not be wronged (You will receive in full, you will not receive it less than what you spent) (Al - Anfal: 60) This remains consistent with the theme of actions having binding consequences. The disbelievers faced the dreaded consequences of their evil actions, while the believers received the good and joyful rewards for their actions.

When you spend for Allah, you are basically sacrificing your wealth. For the one who does not believe, this is all a waste. He does not believe in the hereafter, he does not believe you will get it back from God. Only the believer, who believes that Allah will in fact reward Him, and that his good actions will bear good fruit for him, will in fact sacrifice for Allah. Allah is singling out those actions that perfectly capture their belief in the hereafter and in the invisible amr.

“Spending” here does not just relate to money. It relates to everything. Your money, time, energy, effort. Your youth, the rest that you sacrificed, the sleep you gave up. This is why it uses ( ما Whatever) instead of الذي which is more constrained and specific.

From whatever Allah has given them, be it their money, time, effort or anything; they use it to get close to Allah; and whatever they do for Allah, whatever they have to sacrifice for Allah, from the smallest of things such as even a few minutes of sleep or rest; to the biggest such as even losing their own lives, will be repaid back in full. The good consequence of their good actions. Actions have consequences. This fact proved to be a curse for the disbelievers, but for the believers, it became a blessing.

¹²⁹ Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal li-Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 3, p. 1355
¹³⁰ Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal li-Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 4, p. 2241