Symmetry in 28:74-88
I have discovered a chiastic structure in 28:74-88.
Here is my rhetorical analysis:
Notes
My rhetorical analysis reveals links to 15:87-88, to 20:131, to 28:17, to 28:29-31, and even to a hadith.
In E and E’, the passage juxtaposes being given material wealth and being given the Qur’an.
In a hadith recorded by Shaykh al-Saduq, the Prophet said, “Whoever is given the Qur’an, and then thinks that someone has been given something more than him, this person has aggrandized something little and has belittled something big.”[1]
The Qur’an says in 15:87-88:
Certainly We have given you [the surah of] the seven oft-repeated verses and the great Qur’an. Do not extend your glance toward what We have provided to certain groups of them, and do not grieve for them, and lower your wing to the faithful.
The Qur’an says in 20:131:
Do not extend your glance toward what We have provided certain groups of them as a glitter of the life of this world, so that We may test them thereby. The provision of your Lord is better and more lasting.
In his tafsir of verse 86 (which corresponds to section B’ of my rhetorical analysis), Ayatollah Kamal Faqih Imani says that the Qur’an wants to compare prophet Musa and prophet Muhammad:
- Prophet Musa went to a fire for some other purpose (as mentioned in verse 29), but when he came to it he was unexpectedly given Revelation. Prophet Muhammad went to a cave for some other purpose, but was unexpectedly given Revelation.
- Prophet Muhammad is told in this verse to not be a supporter of disbelievers, which corresponds to the words of prophet Musa in verse 17: “He said, ‘My Lord! As You have blessed me, I will never be a supporter of the guilty.’”
This confirms the juxtaposition of Prophet Musa and Prophet Muhammad in B and B’.
[1] Muhammad
Rayshahri, The Scale of Wisdom, ed. N
Virjee, trans. N Virjee et al. (London: ICAS Press, 2009), 894.
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