An-Naba 78:37 - Linguistic Miracle

From the Rabb of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them; from

Raḥmān! They do not possess any authority of speech from Him The first part of this ayah “From the Rabb of the heavens and the earth and whatever is

between them” is a badal - an apposition - of the words Your Rabb in the previous verse. Whereas, the words From Raḥmān, are an apposition of the sentence from the Rabb of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them.

A recompense from your Rabb who is the same one who sustains the heavens, the earth

and whatever is between them. These two descriptions are then substituted with the name of Allah - Raḥmān. All of this boils down to the word Raḥmān. But then the question arises, why not just say Raḥmān? Why start with Your Rabb, then replace it with from the Rabb of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them, and then replace this in turn, to end at Raḥmān?

Because it shows a beautiful sequence. Allah is the Rabb- the caretaker and nurturer of Muhammad ﷺ , just as He is the caretaker and nurturer of heavens, the earth and whatever is between them. This is not an alien God accessible and loving to only a few. No, He is the loving God who is responsible for all good, who is maintaining and caretaking the heavens, the earth and whatever is between them, which includes the very disbelievers who are mocking God in this surah. He does not want to punish you, He wants to lead you to good. He sent Muhammad ﷺ for this very purpose, to lead you to good out of love for you and so you can attain this everlasting bliss and euphoria inside paradise where He will give you much, much more than what you actually deserve. He does all this, because He is Raḥmān - the strongest possible word in Arabic to denote love.

Raḥmān comes from the root rāʾ ḥāʾ mīm which means the womb of the mother.²¹ The concept is of intense and unwavering love. A mother loves her child, despite undergoing severe discomfort during pregnancy and experiencing excruciating pain during childbirth. She loves it with no regard for all this, as if it never happened. When it comes to Allah, we cannot harm him as a child harms its mother, but we disobey Allah and break His commandments. Yet despite all this, Allah still takes care of us and provides us, and leads us to good and what is beneficial to us. Allah did not create the heavens, the earth and whatever is between them including you, to cast you to Hell. He created you out of love. He wanted you to experience His love and care and ultimately for you to reach paradise to give you eternal comfort. He did not intend for you to land in Hell like those disbelievers. This is why He has sent down the Qurʾān to you, out of love and care for you. This is all rooted in love and mercy. The disbelievers received the justice of Allah, by getting repaid in exact accordance for their actions. While the believers received Allah’s love and mercy, by being gifted more than what they deserved.

They do not possess any authority of speech from Him - None can point to Allah that He is

unjust, or wrong in any matter. Allah is either merciful as He with the believers or just, as He was with the disbelievers. He is never unjust. None can point a finger at Him.

فًّۭ

²¹ Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal li-Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 2, p. 776.