Surah Ar-Rahman (55:33–35): Beyond Metaphor

Ayah 33; Yā ma‘shara al-jinni wal-insi inis-taṭa‘tum an tanfudhū min aqṭāri as-samāwāti wal-arḍi fanfudhū…
lā tanfudhūna illā bisulṭān.

O assembly of jinn and humans, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass.
You will not pass except with authority.

Ayah 35; Yursalu ‘alaykumā shu‘āẓun min nārin wa nuḥāsun fa-lā tantasirān.

A smokeless flame of fire and nuḥās will be sent upon you,
and you will not be able to defend yourselves.

They say it was about ambition, about thought.
About the human tendency to believe we can slip past consequence if we are clever enough.

Fourteen hundred years ago, no one was planning exits from the earth. The heavens were fixed, layered and humanly out of reach. So, the verse was read that way.
“If you think you can pass… then try.”

It was a challenge meant to humble the mind and that should have been enough.

But the Qur’an does not stop there. It goes on to ayah 35, firmly, decisively, finally and what follows is not refusal, not a warning, but a thunder that echoes within the infinite expanses of the universe

It says something will be sent.

Fire. Shuʿaz  شُوَاظ

Shuʿaz¹ in pure Arabic refers to a sharp, forceful jet of fire; a flame that strikes suddenly rather than spreading slowly.
It carries the sense of directed, smokeless energy

Not the kind that smokes and announces itself.
A flame without residue.
Sharpened..

And Nuḥās. نُحَاس

Nuhās²  in pure Arabic refers to copper in an active, harmful state; molten, vaporized, or corrosive rather than solid or usable.
It implies metal turned into an instrument of damage, not a material for shaping or benefit.

Not copper you hold.
Nor metal that you shape.
But metal when it has stopped being useful…
when it has become dangerous.

This is where the reading no longer stays inside the head.

If this were only about thought, about how mystics perceived this Ayah over the years, that the Quran here was speaking of wishes, hopes and dreams, the answer would have stayed abstract, as a closing sentence or boundary drawn in words.

Instead, there is response. And it is not metaphysical but exact, grounded, firm and realistic.

The verse does not say you will not try.
It does not even say you will be stopped.

It states something will meet you. as Shu’az and Nuḥās

Something elemental.

Earlier readers could not imagine the crossing, so they stayed with the warning and that was enough for their time.

But the language itself never shrank to fit that moment.

It spoke of ability, that one day humans wouldn’t be limited to the earth, they would search for passages upwards… they would seek ascent… the maʿārij ; not as dream, not as imagination, but as movement.
It spoke of passages and authority.

And then… of consequence. No ordinary Fire and not just another Metal.

As if to say the universe is not an empty corridor. It is not neutral and you do not cross it untouched.

And maybe that is why these verses feel different now.
Not because they changed.
But because we did.

References

1. شُّوَاظُ (Shu’az)

From Lisān al-ʿArab (Ibn Manẓūr):

والشُّوَاظُ: اللَّهَبُ الصَّافِي الَّذِي لا دُخَانَ فِيهِ

Translation:
Shuʿāẓ is a pure flame in which there is no smoke.

This is the core, authoritative definition used by classical Arabic scholars.

2. نُحَاس  (Nuḥās)

From Lisān al-ʿArab and Tāj al-ʿArūs:

والنُّحَاسُ: الدُّخَانُ مِنَ النَّارِ إِذَا أَحْمِيَ النُّحَاسُ فَذَابَ

Translation:
Nuḥās is the vapor/smoke produced when copper is heated until it melts.

This shows: Copper in an energized, harmful state, not solid metal.