Maryam · Makki · ayah 72 of 98

Maryam 19:72

ثُمَّ نُنَجِّى ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقَوا۟ وَّنَذَرُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ فِيهَا جِثِيًّا

“Then We will save those who feared Allāh and leave the wrongdoers within it, on their knees.”

Saheeh International

Essence

At the dark edge, the mindful are lifted to high ground with their deeds lighting the way; the wrongdoers are left where they knelt.

A reflection

Saved, not self-rescued

Thumma nunajjī alladhīna ttaqaw: then We save those who were mindful. The verb belongs to Allah. Nobody in this ayah saves himself.

The root of nunajjī holds a picture the first hearers knew. A najwa was ground so high that the flood never reached it. To be saved, najā, was to come away whole from what held you. The mindful are not described as swimming out. They are lifted to high ground.

One commentary notes that the word thumma, then, marks a gap in time and in rank between two acts. The first is the creatures' act: everyone coming down to it. The second is the Truth's act: the saving and the leaving. Human beings arrive at the edge. Only Allah decides who rises from it.

The ego dislikes this. It wants to believe that a good life is self-propelled: enough discipline and it will carry you out. The ayah honours effort, since the saved are those who were mindful. But it does not let effort pretend to be the rescuer. Mindfulness puts a person on the ground where rescue reaches. The rescue itself is His.

Some readers find the ayah's second verb harsh. Wa-nadharu al-ẓālimīn: and We leave the wrongdoers. One lexicographer notes the word is used of discarding something as of little account. But who made them of little account? The ayah calls them ẓālimīn: those who put things in the wrong place, who ranked their own will above their Lord's for a lifetime. Being left is the consequence of a life spent leaving Him.

The humble response is the one the bridge teaches: O Allah, keep safe, keep safe. It is a request, not a claim.

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.