Gems from Surah Al Kahf

Part 1



Muhsin Khan

So they [Ya'juj and Ma'juj (Gog and Magog)] were made powerless to
scale it or dig through it.

[Surah Al-Kahf Ayah 97]

After Dhul Qarnain was asked to help with Yajooj

and Majooj, he constructed a large metal wall that was
reinforced with copper on both sides.
Yajooj and Majooj were unable to climb it or dig
through it completely.

In this ayah we will be looking at the verb

[istataaa3] which means to be able.

In the ayah above, this verb appears twice. In the first
case it is written

[ istaaoo3] with the letter

[taa] missing and in the second time is written with its

letters in tact.
So, lets us explore the difference in writing between

and and why one is missing

the verbs

a letter and one is spelled retaining all of its letters.

The first time this verb comes in this ayah it is

referring to Yajooj and Majoojs inability to scale the
wall that was constructed.
The second time this verb is mentioned it is referring
to Yajooj and Majoojs inability to dig a hole through
the wall.
We have two actions here. Climbing and digging.
Neither of the two were able to be done by Yajooj
and Majooj.
Of these two actions, which is the easiest? Climbing it
no doubt is the easier of the two actions and would
take the least amount of time. Therefore, when

ALLAH mentioned their inability to climb/scale the

wall, HE omitted the to show us this action is the

easier of the two and would take the least amount of

time when compared to digging through metal and
iron.
The second time the verb was mentioned, it was
mentioned retaining all of its letters. This shows us
that digging through the wall was a harder more time
consuming task than scaling it. This is why there is a
variation between the ways this verb is written.

*Summary of the writing of the verb in this

particular ayah:
Omission of the = easier and quicker task to
execute

Retainment of the = harder and more time

consuming task

Abu Ezra