Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 195 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:195

بِلِسَانٍ عَرَبِىٍّ مُّبِينٍ

“In a clear Arabic language.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah sent His speech in a plain tongue its first hearers already lived in, so no one could turn away claiming not to understand.

A reflection

Hud, Salih and Shuʿayb spoke it too

There is a second way to read this short ayah, and the commentators record it. The phrase 'in a clear Arabic tongue' can hang on the words before it. Then the sense is: so that you may be one of the warners who warned in Arabic.

Who were they? Several commentators name five: Hud, Salih, Shuʿayb, Ismaʿil and Muhammad ﷺ. One later commentator weighs this reading and prefers the first, that the Quran was sent down in Arabic. But he insists the second is not wrong in meaning, only weaker.

Hold it up against this surah and something stands out. Three of those five have just had their stories told. Hud warned ʿAd (26:123-140). Salih warned Thamud (26:141-159). Shuʿayb warned the people of the thicket (26:176-191). By this reading, they warned in the same family of tongue the Makkans spoke.

Now look at how those stories ended. Their peoples understood every word. They argued back fluently. They called their prophets bewitched and liars (26:153, 26:185-186). Thamud hamstrung the she-camel they had been told to leave alone (26:157). Language was never the obstacle.

So the ayah quietly answers the next excuse before it is made. 'If only it were clearer, we would believe.' Three stories have just shown that a message can be perfectly clear and still be refused. Clarity removes misunderstanding. It cannot remove pride.

For the Prophet ﷺ this reading carries a quiet comfort. He was not the first to warn in this tongue and be refused in it. Brothers in his own language had stood where he stood. Their stories were told to him just before he was told who he was.

For us it carries a question. We often say we would act if only we understood better. Hud's people understood perfectly.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.