Travel through the land and look
فَسِيرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَٱنظُرُوا۟
fa-sīrū fī l-arḍi fa-nẓurū — so travel through the land and then look
Across twelve verses, the paired verbs 'travel' and 'look' recur as a fixed appeal to empirical inspection of the land, whether as command or as rebuking question, with the object of looking varying between the outcome of past peoples and the beginnings of creation.
The pair سار (travel) and نظر (look) appears as a unit in all twelve verses given, always in that order: movement through the land comes first, looking follows as its purpose or consequence. In six verses the pair is a direct command in the second person plural imperative — (3:137), (6:11), (16:36), (27:69), (29:20), (30:42) — while in six verses it is a rhetorical question in the third person, 'have they not journeyed... so that they look' — (12:109), (30:9), (35:44), (40:21), (40:82), (47:10). Read side by side, the occurrences show that the pair is not tied to one lesson: in most verses the object of looking is كَيْفَ كَانَ عَٰقِبَةُ, the outcome of those before — deniers (3:137; 6:11; 16:36), criminals (27:69), those before, most of whom had been joiners of others with God (30:42) — but in (29:20) the same command looks instead at how creation began, followed by the later arising. The verses also vary in what the addressee is to conclude: (12:109) adds the abode of the later life and ends with an appeal to reason, while (30:9), (35:44), (40:21) and (40:82) stress that the former peoples' superior power — and, in (40:82), numbers — and traces in the land did not protect them, (47:10) stresses only that God destroyed them. The recurring structure presents the land itself as the evidence: the command form urges the hearer to go and see; the question form rebukes a third party for not having done so.
Where it occurs
- 3:137 Commands travel and looking at the outcome of the deniers, after 'patterns have passed away before you'.
- 6:11 Introduced by 'Say', commands travel and looking at the outcome of the deniers.
- 12:109 Asks whether 'they' have not journeyed so that they look at the outcome of those before them, ending in an appeal to reason.
- 16:36 Commands travel and observation of the outcome of the deniers after the division between the guided and the misguided.
- 27:69 Introduced by 'Say', commands travel and looking at the outcome of the criminals.
- 29:20 Introduced by 'Say', commands travel and looking at how He began the creation, followed by the later arising.
- 30:9 Asks whether 'they' have not journeyed so that they look at the outcome of those before them, who were stronger and developed the land more.
- 30:42 Introduced by 'Say', commands travel and looking at the outcome of those before, most of whom had been joiners of others with Him.
- 35:44 Asks whether 'they' have not journeyed so that they look at the outcome of those before them, who were stronger in power.
- 40:21 Asks whether 'they' have not traveled so that they look at the outcome of those before them, whom God seized for their sins.
- 40:82 Asks whether 'they' have not traveled so that they look at the outcome of those before them, who were more numerous and stronger.
- 47:10 Asks whether 'they' have not journeyed so that they look at the outcome of those before them, whom God utterly destroyed.
All Qur'anic expressions