meaning of zuwr, and its dual relationship with qard.

So, Allah said what they have said is munkar, and Zuwr. Having looked into what munkar means, it’s time to look into what zuwr means also. Zain, wa and ra are the root alphabets, and it’s one of those words that didn’t occur much in the Quran. 3 forms of the word appeared a total of 6 times in the Quran; zurtum once, ttazowar once and zuwr 4 times.

Zuwr is said to mean the center or upper part of the chest where the bone confluence, it’s also said to mean cleavage, to twist, to lean toward something, to lean to one side, paying a visit, visitor, to meet, to sight, perjuring etc. So how does one make an wholesome sense of all of these definitions? Let’s start with what we know of the word from the Quran.

Of the 6 verses that talks about zuwr, 4 of them are used in the sense that it is used here, as in the name of a vice, and so character isn’t given to the word per se. And those are Q58 V2, Q22 V30, Q25 V4 and V72. And hopefully, by the end of this piece, we will be able to attach an imagery to what it means, and how it is different from every other word translated to ‘falsehood’ in the Quran.

As for the next 2 verses, Q18 V17 and Q102 V2; by the way, you’ve probably noticed that Q18 V17 is the only citation that doesn’t have the number 2 in it, and I think I know why, hopefully, I will get back to what may seem to be the reason at the end of this piece.

So, Q18 V17 uses it to mean ‘inclining away’ from the cave, and Q102 V2 uses it to mean ‘visit’ the grave. It is in this verbal usage that we are now able to go back to the list of expressions that zuwr is said to mean. By the way, did you notice that while the former is doing what it is doing to make sure some folks stay in a dead-but-not-dead state, the latter is warning of death; a duality already?

So, zuwr, classically, is said to be the center or upper part of the chest where the bone confluence, which in human anatomy is called the sternum. And what do we now know about the sternum? Without getting too physiologically technical, simply put, it is where the ribs converges. So, the ribs starts from the spinal cord, makes a turn by our sides, and then meets up at the sternum, the flatness in the middle of our chest. And that’s why part of the meaning of zuwr is cleavage, and why part of its meaning is ‘twist’. Following so far? Cool.

And because all of the ribs meet up at the sternum with the help of the costal cartilages whether the ribs are at the upper or lower part of the torso; zuwr also came to mean to lean, to lean towards, to meet, to visit, visitor, to sight and such other expressions that means that.

But how does all of these help us to understand why it is also used to express falsehood, perjury, and the likes? We’ll have to go back to the human anatomy again for that.

You see, the ribs starts from the spine, right? The spine’s way is straight, but while on its straight path, some un-ossified cartilages decides to ‘branch out’; some parts of it will then become ossified, and some won’t be ossified. Talk about ‘mo gbọ, mo branch’ in Yoruba parlance for ‘visiting’. 

It is this diversion from the straight path that the idea of telling a lie, or giving false information comes from. So instead of someone telling the truth by heading to the truth of a matter (the spine in this case), they decide to branch out, towards the sternum, to converge. It is this turning away from the truth that is falsehood.

And, anatomically, why does it do this? Why is the ribs formed? It does this to protect our vital organs like our heart, lungs, liver, veins, arteries and so on. Allegorically too, why do we move away from the truth aka lie, aka falsify information, aka perjure, it is also because we want to protect what we think are important to us, no? Whether it be something personal like ego, or something impersonal like one’s country or what have you.

Fascinating! It is remarkable how these imageries are able to personalize these words so that when next one wants to lie, right there are one’s ribs, reminding one not to twist or incline away from the truth.

So you see in Q18 V17; the rays from the sun should be shining ‘straight’ on the cave, but the rays ‘inclines away’. You also see in Q102 V2 the imagery of the one obsessed with getting more and more, and whilst on this path head on, death derails him from it. So there is that sense of I’m going somewhere, and I should be heading somewhere; but something takes me away from it. By the way, did you notice ‘head on’ used allegorically for spine, and the ‘head’ is actually ‘on’ the spine in reality? Too dry? Oh well, I tried. Hehe!

So, in Q58 V2, and the other 3 verses that it is used, it is used as a noun, and not a verb; this help us understand what Allah expects of those people that decides to go sideways, as they say in urban parlance.

Thus, Allah is saying in Q58 V2 that the saying of the husband that his wife is now as forbidden to him as the back of his mother is not only a continuously hurtful thing to say, it is also a false statement in that it swerves far away from the truth. Which confirms the words of the verse, rights? Wherein Allah says ‘…they are not consequently their mothers. Their mothers are none but those who gave birth to them…’.

So, by Allah saying Munkar and Zuwr, Allah summarizes the first path of V2 that deals with the declaration of ziHar on one’s wife, that it is a particularly hurtful thing to say; and summarizes the second part of the verse about what it means that the wife is now like the husband’s mother – now, that’s zuwr, a bend from the truth, said or done to protect whatever of ego of self the person wants to protect.

How perfect the words of Allah are. Allahu Akbar!

And Allah ends the verse by saying Gẹ is A’fuwun Ghafur. May Allah forgive our munkar, zuwr and all other shortcomings that we’ve committed knowingly or unknowingly. Amin.

2.

Lest I forget, on the issue of the number 2 appearing in all the verses I cited in trying to explain Zuwr; this conversation started here. You should read that work, wherein, I also noticed that ‘qard’ though was mentioned 13 times in the Quran, for every time it was mentioned, it was mentioned twice in each verse but in Q18 V17, it was only mentioned 1 time.

And just like zuwr was used in Q18 V17 to explain the way the sun rays ‘inclined away’ from the cave, qard was also used to explain how the sun rays ‘passed away’ from the cave; the former being when the sun was rising, and the latter being when the sun was setting. Also to be noted is the fact that the former happened from the east where the sun is rising from, and the latter from the west where the sun is setting to.

So, the mention of qard did not follow the pattern in which other qard was mentioned, and in that way, just like the sun ray cuts away from shining on the cave, qard cuts away from the other patterns in which the word was mentioned in the entire Quran thereby making the count fall into the odd number 13.

And now, here, with zuwr, I am noticing that the mention of number 2 is present in all the verses that zuwr is mentioned in, all 6 of them, but not in Q18 V17. And, by the way, the double-mention of qard is in 6 verses, other than in Q18 V17. And so this mention also swerves away from the norm of its mention in the Quran, and it also happens to also mean to ‘swerve away’ from something.

Another layer to all of these is the fact that zuwr is mentioned 6 times in the Quran, and now it ‘swerves away’ from the norm with its mention with the number 2. Qard is mentioned 6 times also, doubly though, and the 7th time ‘swerves away’ from the norm. Seeing the parallels?

So, first of all, there is the fact that the use of zuwr and qard to refer to the sun swerving away from the cave; the words also swerves away from the pattern in which they were used, so that Allah’s word is true in its entirety. Literally, figuratively, allegorically, and metaphorically; no matter how much you ‘twist’ it, you’ll find that it lands swerving. Hehe! Oh, my dry humor. But you get the point.

Secondly, there is also the consistency of 6s and 2s; 2 mentions of qards in 6 verses. 6 mentions of zuwr, and they all have number 2 in them other than in Q18 V17. Perhaps, the double mention of qard is completed here with the mention of zuwr? And the 2 that’s missing in the numbers 18 and 17 that house zuwr is gotten by the mention of qard and zuwr; this is especially so when one realizes one was mentioned for the sun rising from the east, and the other for the sun setting in the west. The duality! No? An overstretch? Too much ‘twists’? 

Oh well, Allah commanded us to contemplate deeply on the verses of the Quran – ‘this is a blessed book which we sent down to you’, Allah said in Q38 V29, ‘for people to contemplate its verses’, to ponder it deeply. And in Q47 V24, Allah said, ‘Will they not contemplate the Quran? Do they have locks on their hearts?’

That written, did you also notice that Q58 V2 has 8 in it just as Q18 V17 has 8 in it; and qard was mentioned in 7 different verses in the Quran, and Q18 V17 has 7 in it. And of course, if we go by the fact that they were 7 sleepers, and the 8 was their dog, we have another mention of 7 and 8.

Perhaps, another angle to these numbers could be coordinates to the cave of the ashabul kahf, and or their burial site. I await ideas on what these numbers could mean, for now, let’s stay safe, and keep on the straight path.

Well, let’s continue with before he can ‘touch’ her.