« إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ » placed first: the end where everything arrives
When « إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ » ("to your Guardian") is placed at the head of the sentence, before a noun expressing an end (the place of settlement, the drive, the final boundary, the return), Arabic insists: to Him, and to no other. The translation marks this emphasis by fronting: "To your Guardian is …".
In Arabic the usual order would put the noun before the complement; here the complement is brought forward, and that order expresses exclusivity. The five occurrences:
- 75:12, « إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ يَوْمَئِذٍ ٱلْمُسْتَقَرُّ », to your Guardian, that Day, will be the place of settlement;
- 75:30, « إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ يَوْمَئِذٍ ٱلْمَسَاقُ », the drive;
- 79:44, « إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ مُنتَهَىٰهَآ », the final boundary of the Hour;
- 53:42, « وَأَنَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ ٱلْمُنتَهَىٰ », the final boundary;
- 96:8, « إِنَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ ٱلرُّجْعَىٰٓ », the return.
All five nouns express a point of arrival. The French "C'est vers … que" and the English fronted "To your Guardian is …" render the exclusivity without adding a word such as "only". In 53:42, the sentence belongs to the series in « وَأَنَّ » ("and that …") that structures the end of sura 53, and keeps that form.
In the text
إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ يَوْمَئِذٍ ٱلْمُسْتَقَرُّإِنَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ ٱلرُّجْعَىٰٓإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ مُنتَهَىٰهَآ