Al-Kahf · Makki · ayah 56 of 110

Al-Kahf 18:56

وَمَا نُرْسِلُ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ إِلَّا مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنذِرِينَ ۚ وَيُجَـٰدِلُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ بِٱلْبَـٰطِلِ لِيُدْحِضُوا۟ بِهِ ٱلْحَقَّ ۖ وَٱتَّخَذُوٓا۟ ءَايَـٰتِى وَمَآ أُنذِرُوا۟ هُزُوًا

“And We send not the messengers except as bringers of good tidings and warners. And those who disbelieve dispute by [using] falsehood to [attempt to] invalidate thereby the truth and have taken My verses, and that of which they are warned, in ridicule.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The word for a warner pictures a scout running in from the desert, tearing off his garment and waving it above his head.

A reflection

Two words for the whole office

The verse gives the entire job in two words, and both have pictures under them.

The lexicons on the first give a thing showing itself with goodness in it, and then the outer skin, the surface that shows. From there comes the ordinary word for a human being, named by that visible, bodily nature. And then good news: the first news that brings joy, which shows on the face.

The second is sharper. A scout runs in from the desert, tearing off his garment and waving it above his head. The raiders are coming. Save yourselves.

So one is a face lighting up and the other is a man running with his clothes off.

And the word only, at the start, is the one most readers skip. One concise commentary adds the consequence directly: and they have no power over hearts, to carry them to guidance.

In one market town the crier read the notices aloud at the cross, three times, and then went home. He had no authority to make anybody act, and nobody expected him to. The notice was the office.

That is where a certain kind of religious pride comes undone, and it is not the pride of unbelievers. It is the pride of people who think the job of the faithful is to produce results in other people. Winning arguments, changing minds, getting somebody over the line.

No messenger was ever given that, and the verse says so with the word only.

What was given was two things. A face with good news on it, and the clothes off, running.

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.