I fear / you do not fear
أَخَافُ مَآ أَشْرَكْتُمْ وَلَا تَخَافُونَ
akhāfu mā ashraktum wa-lā takhāfūna — how could I fear what you have made partners, while you do not fear
In (6:81) the single root خ و ف appears twice in one verse, setting the speaker's fear of the addressees' partners against the addressees' failure to fear their own act of associating partners with Allah, and the verse then asks which of the two groups has more claim to security.
The verse builds a two-sided comparison out of one verb root. The first occurrence, أَخَافُ, is a first-person singular imperfect of خ و ف: the speaker asks how he could fear what the addressees have made partners (مَآ أَشْرَكْتُمْ). The second occurrence, تَخَافُونَ, is a second-person masculine plural imperfect of the same root, negated by وَلَا: the addressees do not fear (لَا تَخَافُونَ) that they have made partners with Allah for which no authority has been sent down upon them. The two verbs are grammatically opposed in person and number — 1S against 2MP — and the negation وَلَا marks the second clause as the counterweight to the first. The objects of the two fears are also set against each other: the speaker's would-be object is مَا أَشْرَكْتُمْ (what you have made partners), while the addressees' actual object, introduced by أَنَّكُمْ, is their own act of associating with Allah what He has not authorized. The verse then draws the comparison to a head with فَأَىُّ ٱلْفَرِيقَيْنِ أَحَقُّ بِٱلْأَمْنِ — which of the two groups has more claim to security — a question that presupposes the fear/security axis the two verbs have just established. The mirror thus does not show the action passing reciprocally between the parties, but rather one party's fear measured against the other party's absence of fear, with the rhetorical question أَحَقُّ بِٱلْأَمْنِ inviting the addressees to judge between the two positions.
Where it occurs
- 6:81 The root خ و ف appears twice in one verse: the speaker's hypothetical fear of the addressees' partners is set against the addressees' failure to fear their own act of associating partners with Allah, framing the question of which group has more claim to security.
All Qur'anic expressions