Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 90 of 111

Al-Isra 17:90

وَقَالُوا۟ لَن نُّؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّىٰ تَفْجُرَ لَنَا مِنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ يَنۢبُوعًا

“And they say, "We will not believe you until you break open for us from the ground a spring”

Saheeh International

Essence

Beaten by the Quran's challenge, the chiefs of Makkah changed the subject: make a spring burst from our dry ground, then we will believe.

A reflection

The demand that arrives after the argument is lost

Read this ayah where it sits. Two ayat earlier comes the open challenge: all humans and jinn together could not produce the like of this Quran (17:88). Then: most people refused everything except denial (17:89). Then, straight away: and they said, we will not believe you until...

The commentators notice the timing. A concise modern commentary says that once the Quran had left the idolaters unable to answer, they began demanding miracles to suit their own wishes. A classical rhetorical commentary is sharper. This, it says, is what the dumbfounded do when they have lost the argument. They stumble over the hems of their own bewilderment.

The picture is of a man in a long robe trying to leave in a hurry and tripping on his own cloth. The proof has been laid down. He cannot answer it, and he will not accept it. So he changes the subject, and the new subject is a demand.

A twelve-year-old loses a game of chess to his grandmother in nineteen moves. He sweeps the pieces into the box. Best of five, he says, and you have to play without your queen. Nobody at the table thinks this is about chess any more.

The pattern is not only theirs. When a clear argument corners us, we rarely say: you are right. We ask for something else. More proof, a different kind of proof, proof on our own terms. It sounds like a search for truth. Often it is a way out of the room.

So when you notice yourself setting a new condition the moment an old excuse has fallen, pause. Ask what the condition is for. A genuine question wants an answer. A demand made straight after a defeat usually wants an exit.

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.