you love them, they do not love you
تُحِبُّونَهُمْ وَلَا يُحِبُّونَكُمْ
tuḥibbūnahum wa-lā yuḥibbūnakum — you love them, while they do not love you
In (3:119) the verb from the root ḥ-b-b is used twice in one clause, once for each party, with the pronouns reversed and the second occurrence negated, so that the same action is directed one way but withheld the other way.
The verse places two imperfect verbs of the root ḥ-b-b side by side: تُحِبُّونَهُمْ, second masculine plural with a third masculine plural object pronoun, and يُحِبُّونَكُمْ, third masculine plural with a second masculine plural object pronoun. The pronouns are mirror images: the addressees are the subject and the others the object in the first verb; the roles are swapped in the second. The second verb is negated by لَا, so the mirrored action is asserted in one direction and denied in the other: the addressees love the others, the others do not love the addressees. The verse itself then sets this asymmetry against the conduct of the same two parties: the addressees affirm the Book, all of it, while the others, on meeting them, say "We have affirmed (it)" but, withdrawing in private, bite at them their fingertips out of rage. The one-sided love thus stands in a verse whose whole structure is one-sided: affirmation given fully on one side, and on the other only words said at a meeting, contradicted in private. The verse closes with the command "Say, 'Die with your rage. Indeed, Allah is Knowing of what is (hidden) within the chests,'" placing the hidden non-love and the hidden rage under God's knowledge.
Where it occurs
- 3:119 The doubled verb with reversed pronouns and negation of the second occurrence states the asymmetry between the two parties that the rest of the verse's contrasted behaviors then illustrates.
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