An-Naba 78:38 - Linguistic Miracle

The Day that the Spirit and the angels will stand as a single row, none shall speak

except for one permitted by Raḥmān, and said what is Ṣawāb The Spirit - this is angel Gabriel; who brings the Qurʾān down from Allah to Muhammad ﷺ . The Qurʾān has called him the Rūḥ (spirit) on multiple occasions.22 This ayah explains the last one as well. They do not have the right to address Allah. Only the one given permission by Allah to speak will do so, and even then, they will only say that which is ṣawāb.

Ṣawāb comes from the root ṣād wāw bāʾ which was used for rain, as well as for an arrow hitting its target precisely. The core meaning of this root is the descent of something from up to down (like the rain) and for something to be precise and accurate like the arrow that hit its target.²³ They can only speak by Allah’s permission and even then, they will only be allowed to say whatever Allah sends down on them - whatever Allah tells them to say. Whatever Allah reveals to them to say, will only be correct and accurate. Allah will not lie, nor will he be inaccurate in anything.

The reason for mentioning the spirit is because Gabriel is the angel that brings down the Qurʾān, which the disbelievers were mocking at the beginning of the surah. The permission to speak from Allah will go to the spirit and the angels.²⁴ Ṣawāb can refer to two things. What Allah commands them to say, and secondly, the Qurʾān itself. Ṣawāb means something that descends from above and is accurate. The Qurʾān descends from Allah to the earth via the spirit, and whatever it says will be proven to be accurate on judgment day. The disbeliever who used to mock it will be brought forward, and then he will be shown his mockery of the Qurʾān, the verses that he 22 Q. 16:102 used to mock, will be read to him, as he sees with his own eyes the truth of what he used to mock. Raḥmān Notice again how Allah calls Himself Raḥmān. Again, the obvious feeling induced when reading all of this is fear, but Allah says that the judge on that day is the Raḥmān, the exceedingly loving who forgives and ignores faults. One who is more loving than a mother to her child. Earlier we saw the graphic descriptions of the torments of Hellfire. This verse and the use of the word Raḥmān really force reflection. It forces you to think the other way around. Instead of having pity on them and questioning Allah’s justice, ask what horrid actions must people have done to be subjected to everlasting punishment from Raḥmān Himself.

²³ Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal li-Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 3, p. 1186
²⁴ al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, vol. 31, p. 25