Allah promised, I promised (14:22)
وَعَدَكُمْ وَعْدَ ٱلْحَقِّ وَوَعَدتُّكُمْ
waʿadakum waʿda l-ḥaqqi wa-waʿadtukkum — Allah promised you the promise of truth, and I promised you
In 14:22 the verb of the root و ع د is used twice in one verse, once of Allah's promise and once of the satan's (the root occurs a third time in the noun وَعْدَ), and the verse itself marks the difference between them: the satan's promise is immediately said to have been broken.
The verse places two promises side by side in the satan's speech: “Indeed, Allah promised you the promise of truth, and I promised you, but I broke my promise to you” (14:22). The same root و ع د governs both clauses, but the grammatical subjects differ: word 8, وَعَدَكُمْ, is a third-person masculine perfect with a second-person plural object, referring to Allah; word 11, وَوَعَدتُّكُمْ, is a first-person singular perfect with the same second-person plural object, the satan speaking of himself. The root occurs a third time in the noun وَعْدَ (word 9, masculine accusative), qualifying Allah's promise. The shared object—you—makes the two acts directly comparable: both parties addressed the same audience with promises. The verse then distinguishes them in its own words. Allah's promise is qualified as وَعْدَ ٱلْحَقِّ, “the promise of truth,” while the satan's promise is followed at once by فَأَخْلَفْتُكُمْ, “but I broke my promise to you.” The mirror is thus not symmetrical: the identical verb frames a contrast the verse itself draws, between a promise characterized as truth and a promise whose speaker confesses its failure. The satan adds that he had no سُلْطَٰنٍ over his audience except that he called them and they responded (14:22), locating the broken promise within a call-and-response rather than an exercise of power.
Where it occurs
- 14:22 The satan contrasts Allah's promise, characterized as the promise of truth, with his own promise to the same audience, which he says he broke.
All Qur'anic expressions