ق : ١٦

  • وَلَقَدۡ And certainly
  • خَلَقۡنَا We created
  • ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَ man
  • وَنَعۡلَمُ and We know
  • مَا what
  • تُوَسۡوِسُ whispers
  • بِهِۦ to him
  • نَفۡسُهُۥۖ his soul
  • وَنَحۡنُ and We
  • أَقۡرَبُ (are) nearer
  • إِلَيۡهِ to him
  • مِنۡ than
  • حَبۡلِ (his) jugular vein
  • ٱلۡوَرِيدِ (his) jugular vein
And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer1 to him than [his] jugular vein.
Footnotes
1 - In absolute knowledge of everything about him. "We" has also been interpreted to mean the angels who are mentioned in the following verse.
And verily We created man and We know (wa-na'lamu is a circumstantial qualifier with an implicit [preceding] nahnu) what (maa relates to the verbal action) his soul whispers to him, [what] it speaks [to him] (the bi- [of bihi, 'him'] is extra, or it is [required] for the intransitive verb to become transitive [and take a direct object]; the [suffixed] personal pronoun [in bihi, 'him'] refers to man); and We are nearer to him, in knowing [him], than his jugular vein (habli'l-wareedi: the genitive annexation is explicative; al-wareedaan are two [principal] veins on either side of the neck).