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﴿16﴾ كَلَّا إِنَّهُ كَانَ لِآيَاتِنَا عَنِيداً
﴿17﴾ سَأُرْهِقُهُ صَعُوداً
16. It shall never be thus, since he opposes Our Āyāt [Verses, Signs,
proofs].
17. I shall soon oblige him to climb the summit of life [then, I shall
thrust him downwards.
Exegesis
The disbelieving stranger is harshly rejected in the blessed Verse 16: "I
shall never be thus, since he opposes Our Āyāt." The disbeliever was fully
aware that the Holy Qur’an is neither the word of the jinn nor that of
mankind, but it possesses strong roots, fruitful branches, and unparalleled
appeal. However, he regarded it as magic and its bearer a magician. The
Arabic adverb of manner ‘anīdan ("obdurately") implies willful
opposition and animosity, when one comprehends the truthfulness of
something, but he rises against it. Walīd was the personification of such
obdurate animosity. The Arabic past verbal form kāna implies
progressiveness, in that he bore animosity against the truth at all times,
rather than temporarily.
The blessed Verse 17 makes a terse reference to his dire fate: "I shall
soon oblige him to climb the hard to pass summit of life and then I shall
thrust him downwards. The Arabic verbal form sa-urhiquhū, derived
from r-h-q ("to cover fiercely") connotes overburdening and afflicting one
with different torments. The Arabic nominal form sa‘ūd denotes a
place climbed by someone and the Arabic verbal noun su‘ūd is employed
in the sense of climbing. Since climbing summits is hard, it implies any
kind of hard task. Consequently, some exegetes maintain that it herein
connotes Divine torment. The blessed Verse may allude to the torments
inflicted upon Walīd in this world, since it is
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