Al-Kahf · Makki · ayah 23 of 110

Al-Kahf 18:23

وَلَا تَقُولَنَّ لِشَا۟ىْءٍ إِنِّى فَاعِلٌ ذَٰلِكَ غَدًا

“And never say of anything, "Indeed, I will do that tomorrow,"”

Saheeh International

Essence

The whole surah arrived late because one clause was left off one sentence, and here is the sentence.

A reflection

The correction is inside the answer

The commentaries put this ayah back where it belongs, and once it is there it is hard to read calmly.

Quraysh had been handed three questions designed to expose him. He said he would tell them the next day. And, the commentaries note in exactly these words, he did not make the exception. Then no revelation came. Fifteen nights, with Makkah counting out loud: he promised us tomorrow, and this is the fifteenth morning.

The commentaries record that the delay grieved him, and that what the town was saying was hard on him. Then Jibril came with this surah. It carried the answers. It also carried this ayah.

So the man who had said "tomorrow" without the clause was given the surah he had been waiting for. Inside it was the correction, as a general instruction to everyone who would ever read it.

One commentary also reports what he said to Jibril when he finally came: you stayed away from me until I thought ill. And the reply he received was words that stand elsewhere in the Qur'an. We do not descend except by the command of your Lord (19:64).

That is the whole lesson twice over. The delay was the point being made, and then it was also written down.

Fifteen nights of public humiliation, and the result is a sentence millions of people now say every day without thinking about where it came from.

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.