Sad ص

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Surah Sad

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صٓ ۚ وَٱلْقُرْءَانِ ذِى ٱلذِّكْرِ ١ بَلِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فِى عِزَّةٍۢ وَشِقَاقٍۢ ٢ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن قَرْنٍۢ فَنَادَوا۟ وَّلَاتَ حِينَ مَنَاصٍۢ ٣ وَعَجِبُوٓا۟ أَن جَآءَهُم مُّنذِرٌۭ مِّنْهُمْ ۖ وَقَالَ ٱلْكَـٰفِرُونَ هَـٰذَا سَـٰحِرٌۭ كَذَّابٌ ٤ أَجَعَلَ ٱلْـَٔالِهَةَ إِلَـٰهًۭا وَٰحِدًا ۖ إِنَّ هَـٰذَا لَشَىْءٌ عُجَابٌۭ ٥ وَٱنطَلَقَ ٱلْمَلَأُ مِنْهُمْ أَنِ ٱمْشُوا۟ وَٱصْبِرُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ ءَالِهَتِكُمْ ۖ إِنَّ هَـٰذَا لَشَىْءٌۭ 

يُرَادُ ٦ مَا سَمِعْنَا بِهَـٰذَا فِى ٱلْمِلَّةِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ إِنْ هَـٰذَآ إِلَّا ٱخْتِلَـٰقٌ

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صٓ ۚ وَٱلْقُرْءَانِ ذِى ٱلذِّكْرِ

Sad. By the Quran, Dhi ZIkr

I will leave the meaning of the letter Sad for now. We will come to it at the end of the Surah In sha Allah.

I left the phrase Dhi Zikr untranslated because this phrase is central to this Surah. Dhi Zikr is normally translated as “possessing Zikr” where Zikr is normally taken to mean “reminder.” Hence, the ayah is normally taken to mean “Sad. By the Quran, which possesses reminder.” 

Focusing on the phrase Dhi Zikr - normally taken to mean “possessing reminder”, there are a number of ways to say this in Arabic. Even in this Surah itself, the Quran will use different words to say it. Dhi is taken to mean “possessing" and Zikr is taken to mean “reminder.” In this Surah itself, the Quran will use the word Dhi with some words and then use another word Oulu- which also means to possess - with those same words.

Take for example what it says regarding the Prophet Dawud in ayah 17. You will notice that in this ayah it says Dha instead of Dhi but this difference is only because of its placement in the sentence. It has no bearing on meaning. It is the very same word.

ٱصْبِرْ عَلَىٰ مَا يَقُولُونَ وَٱذْكُرْ عَبْدَنَا دَاوُۥدَ ذَا ٱلْأَيْدِ ۖ إِنَّهُۥٓ أَوَّابٌ

Bear patiently what they say and remember our servant Dawud, Dha al Aid, for he repeatedly turned back (to Allah)

Dha as explained earlier means to possess. A'id literally means hand but here it is used in the meaning of power, might and the help of Allah. Al is simply the definite article.

Now notice what it says in ayah 45.

وَٱذْكُرْ عِبَـٰدَنَآ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ وَإِسْحَـٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ أُو۟لِى ٱلْأَيْدِى وَٱلْأَبْصَـٰرِ

Remember our servants; Ibrahim, Ishaq and Ya’qub. Ouli al Aid and of understanding.

Ouli also means to possess. Its meaning is taken to mean the same as Dhi and Dha. 

So Ouli is also taken to mean “possessers” and Aid as explained above, means power, might and help of Allah. This Surah uses the same word Aid for Dawud and these prophets, but uses a different word Ouli instead of Dha when describing their possession of these qualities.

If you ask an Arab what is the difference between Ouli and Dha, he would either not know or say that they are the same. Scholars have said that Ouli is the plural of Dha but I disagree because of how the Quran itself applies these words.

One of the wonderful things about the Quran is that it itself acts as the dictionary of classical Arabic. Many times when there are two or more words with roughly the same meaning and the difference is not clear, we turn to the Quran to see how it used those words and in what contexts. This has always worked and clarifies the difference. The Quran is very specific in the words it uses in specific contexts with remarkable precision. 

Dawud was a king and he commanded a kingdom. The other prophets, Ibrahim, Ishaq and Ya’qub were not kings nor did they command a country or a kingdom. Hence, Dha is used when someone possesses a thing that can be visibly seen with the eye and Ouli is used when someone possesses a thing that cannot be visibly seen with the eye  like character qualities such as kindness, knowledge and intelligence etc. This is consistent with other applications of these two words in the Quran which I will not put here to keep things short.

With this difference clear, notice the word the Quran uses with itself when it says the Quran possesses Zikr. It uses Dhi not Oulu. This Surah will then describe Dawud and other prophets as a case study that the Zikr of Quran is powerful, mighty and visible like the kingdom and kingship of Dawud. 

The Zikr of the Quran can be visibly seen. When there are two things, one which we can see with our eyes and another which we cannot see, naturally our belief in the thing that we can see with our eyes will be stronger than our belief in the thing which we cannot see with our eyes. It is only natural and logical though both may be true.