Detailed Exegesis

Dissension (shiqāq): There is disagreement about the derivation of shiqāq. This word is a verbal noun from the root shaqqa yashiqqu shaqqan (to split, divide in half, and separate) and refers to discord, strife, and enmity that is said to arise after dispute and disagreement and division.(547)

Similar to this is what appears in the verse under discussion: “And if they turn away, they are only in dissension” (wa-in tawallaw fa-innamā hum fī shiqāq); meaning if they turn away and turn their backs, they are only in enmity and strife. The nunation of shiqāq is for emphasis and to indicate its importance.

From some instances of the usage of this word, it is understood that it has also been used in the verbal noun sense; such as “Let not my dissension cause you…” (lā yajrimannakum shiqāqī).(548) Considering that the first person pronoun “my” in “shiqāqī” is the object of shiqāq, the verse means: My enmity should not lead you to…

The ontological meaning of this word is being in a separate split; similar to being in a separate limit in the word muḥādda and a separate side in the word mujānaba, and its moral and social meaning is taking a position of enmity and harboring the intention of sedition.

Shiqāq, whatever its meaning, if used with the word “in” (fī), apparently indicates that the danger of dissension is like a pit into which those afflicted by it have fallen; similar to the expression “in error” (fī ḍalāl)(549), “in foolishness” (fī safāha)(550), “in their discourse playing” (fī khawḍihim yalʿabūn)(551) and so on.

This is unlike when it is not used with the word “in” (fī); such as: “And whoever opposes God and His Messenger, then indeed, God is severe in penalty” (wa-man yushāqiq Allāh wa-rasūlahu fa-inna Allāh shadīd al-ʿiqāb).(552)