LessonsSupplementary Practice 26 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Qāriʿah and Sūrat al-TīnQuiz

وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ ۝ فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ
And as for the one whose balances are light, the abyss will be that person’s refuge. (101:8–9)

Thaqulat in the first case is balanced against khaffat in the second. The repeated ammā … fa pattern gives parallel grammatical form to opposed outcomes.

Fa-ummuhu hāwiyah should not be read as an ordinary claim about a biological mother. The expression figuratively identifies the person’s destination or refuge with the abyss, which the following verse explains.

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The counterpart: light balances and the abyss

Supplementary Practice 26 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Qāriʿah and Sūrat al-Tīn

وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ ۝ فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ
And as for the one whose balances are light, the abyss will be that person’s refuge. (101:8–9)

Thaqulat in the first case is balanced against khaffat in the second. The repeated ammā … fa pattern gives parallel grammatical form to opposed outcomes.

Fa-ummuhu hāwiyah should not be read as an ordinary claim about a biological mother. The expression figuratively identifies the person’s destination or refuge with the abyss, which the following verse explains.