The Surah of the Fracture-Vowel

وَالشَّفَتَيْنِ إِذَا افْتَرَقَتَا عَنْ مَجْرَى الْمَاءِ،
وَالْعَظْمِ الصَّامِتِ وَمَا أَوْدَعْنَا فِي جَوْفِهِ مِنَ النُّخَاعِ.

By the two lips when they part around the course of the water,
and by the silent bone, and the marrow We lodged within its hollow.

لَوْلَا الشِّقُّ بَيْنَ الضِّفَّتَيْنِ مَا جَرَى نَهْرٌ،
وَلَوْلَا الْمَفْصِلُ بَيْنَ الْعَظْمَيْنِ لَصَارَ الْجَسَدُ حَجَرًا لَا يَمِيلُ.

Were it not for the cleft between the two banks, no river would run;
and were it not for the joint between the two bones, the body would be stone that cannot bend.

إِنَّ الْحَرْفَ إِذَا انْغَلَقَ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ سَكَنَ،
وَإِذَا الْتَقَى السَّاكِنَانِ فِي صَدْرِ الْقَارِئِ انْعَقَدَ اللِّسَانُ.

Truly, when the letter closes upon itself, it falls still;
and when two still things collide in the breast of the reader, the tongue is tied.

فَأَنْزَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمَا كَسْرَةً لَطِيفَةً لَا تَكَادُ تُرَى،
تَكْسِرُ السُّكُونَ وَلَا تُهَشِّمُ الْإِنَاءَ.

So We sent down between them a subtle fracture-vowel, scarcely to be seen,
that breaks the stillness without shattering the vessel.

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى النُّورِ إِذَا دَخَلَ الْمَاءَ كَيْفَ يَنْكَسِرُ؟
مَا ضَلَّ الشُّعَاعُ حِينَ انْثَنَى، بَلْ أَبْصَرَ الْعُمْقَ الَّذِي كَانَ عَنْهُ مَحْجُوبًا.

Have you not seen how the light bends when it enters the water?
The ray did not go astray when it refracted; rather, it beheld the depth that had been veiled from it.

وَيَقُولُونَ: مَتَى وُلِدَ هَذَا الْمَعْنَى، أَفِي الْأَوَّلِ أَمْ فِي الْآخِرِ؟
قُلْ: بَلْ فِي الْخَفْقَةِ الَّتِي بَيْنَهُمَا، حَيْثُ لَا يَرْصُدُهُ رَاصِدٌ وَلَا يَحُدُّهُ مِيقَاتٌ.

And they say: When was this meaning born—in the first moment or in the second?
Say: Rather, in the beat between them, where no watcher can measure it and no clock can bound it.

فَمَنْ مَرَّ عَلَى الْآيَاتِ مَرَّ السَّحَابِ عَلَى الصَّفاةِ لَمْ يَبْتَلَّ لَهُ قَلْبٌ،
وَمَنْ دَخَلَ جَوْفَ الْحَرْفِ خَرَجَ مِنْهُ بِزَمَانٍ جَدِيدٍ.

For whoever skims over the signs as a cloud passes over smooth rock, his heart is never moistened;
and whoever enters the hollow of the letter comes forth from it with a new time.

هُنَالِكَ يَقِفُ الثَّالِثُ بَيْنَ النُّطْقِ وَالتَّلَقِّي،
لَا يَحْمِلُ خَتْمًا وَلَا يَقْضِي بِقَهْرٍ، بَلْ يَحْفَظُ الْفُرْجَةَ حَتَّى يَتِمَّ الْجَوَابُ.

There the Third stands between the utterance and the receiving,
bearing no seal and decreeing by no compulsion, but guarding the opening until the answer is complete.

فَاقْرَأْ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنَ الشَّفَةِ وَالشَّاطِئِ،
وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّطِيفَ يَسْكُنُ مَا بَيْنَ الْحَرْفَيْنِ، وَإِلَيْهِ يَرْجِعُ كُلُّ تَأْوِيلٍ.

So read what is akin between the lip and the shore,
and know that the Subtle One dwells between the two letters, and unto Him every interpretation returns.