Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 67 of 111

Al-Isra 17:67

وَإِذَا مَسَّكُمُ ٱلضُّرُّ فِى ٱلْبَحْرِ ضَلَّ مَن تَدْعُونَ إِلَّآ إِيَّاهُ ۖ فَلَمَّا نَجَّىٰكُمْ إِلَى ٱلْبَرِّ أَعْرَضْتُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنُ كَفُورًا

“And when adversity touches you at sea, lost are [all] those you invoke except for Him. But when He delivers you to the land, you turn away [from Him]. And ever is man ungrateful.”

Saheeh International

Essence

When the sea turns on you, every other hope vanishes but Him; yet once He lands you safely, you turn away.

A reflection

A phone full of names, and only One answers

Four friends hire a speedboat for an afternoon off the coast. A mile out, the engine dies, the wind gets up and the tide begins to carry them. One of them is a barrister who knows judges, councillors and half the city. He scrolls through a phone full of names. There is no signal.

Ḍalla man tadʿūna illā iyyāh: lost are all those you call upon, except Him. Ḍalla is the verb of losing the way. The lexicons give a homely picture of it: milk lost in water, swallowed up so that it cannot be found again. One commentator explains that in that moment they vanish from your mind. You do not remember them, and you do not hope in them. Another adds a second sense. Those you called on lost their own way to you, and could not find how to rescue you.

That is the storm's first work. It does not argue with the ego. It strips it. Every support we had quietly leaned on, reputation, connections, money and competence, drops into the water like milk. One name is left, and the ego has nothing to stand on but its need.

Does Allah want us desperate, then, so that we come crawling? Does He need our fear? He does not. 'You are the ones in need of Allah, and Allah is the Free of need' (35:15). The storm adds nothing to Him. It shows us what was always true about us.

Notice what the ayah says next: najjākum, He saved you. He did not stand back and enjoy the crawling. He answered people who had ignored Him an hour before. The root of that verb is pictured in high ground the flood never reaches.

The boat is towed in by evening. In the harbour car park, the barrister's phone finds its signal. The ayah's question to him is simple: whose name will he call first?

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.