Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 89 of 111

Al-Isra 17:89

وَلَقَدْ صَرَّفْنَا لِلنَّاسِ فِى هَـٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانِ مِن كُلِّ مَثَلٍ فَأَبَىٰٓ أَكْثَرُ ٱلنَّاسِ إِلَّا كُفُورًا

“And We have certainly diversified for the people in this Qur’ān from every [kind of] example, but most of the people refused except disbelief.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Every kind of example was set out for people in this Qur'an, and still most of them would accept nothing but denial.

A reflection

Refusing the water you are offered

A man is laid up with flu after standing three hours at a football match in the rain. His wife told him not to go. Now she stands at the bedroom door with a glass of water. He is parched, and he turns his face to the wall. Taking the glass would mean she was right.

The verb in this ayah has that picture in its root. Abā: he refused. The lexicons give it a camel's image. A drinking place was called maʾbāh when the camels refused its water. A she-camel that would not drink, however she was led to the trough, is the root's own example. One lexicon stresses its force: every ibāʾ is a refusal, but not every refusal is ibāʾ. It is refusal dug in.

Then look at the grammar, which the commentators found unusual. Arabic does not normally say 'they refused except'. One says 'they did not accept anything except'. Two commentators explain that abā works here like a negation. The sense is: they would accept nothing except denial. One adds what that carries. They did not settle even for pausing, or for leaving the question open. They refused every option but one, and pressed the refusal until it became ibāʾ.

That is a different thing from failing to understand. The water was held out. The examples were set out in every form. The refusal was not about evidence. It was about what accepting would mean.

Many refusals of truth look like this from the inside. 'I'm not convinced' often means 'if I am convinced, something has to change'. The man with flu is not unconvinced about water.

There is a gentle question here for every reader, not only for the deniers of Makkah. What is being held out to you at the moment? A piece of advice, an ayah, an apology from someone you have not forgiven. And what would it cost your pride to take it?

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.