Maryam · Makki · ayah 75 of 98

Maryam 19:75

قُلْ مَن كَانَ فِى ٱلضَّلَـٰلَةِ فَلْيَمْدُدْ لَهُ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ مَدًّا ۚ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا رَأَوْا۟ مَا يُوعَدُونَ إِمَّا ٱلْعَذَابَ وَإِمَّا ٱلسَّاعَةَ فَسَيَعْلَمُونَ مَنْ هُوَ شَرٌّ مَّكَانًا وَأَضْعَفُ جُندًا

“Say, "Whoever is in error - let the Most Merciful extend for him an extension [in wealth and time] until, when they see that which they were promised - either punishment [in this world] or the Hour [of resurrection] - they will come to know who is worst in position and weaker in soldiers."”

Saheeh International

Essence

The Most Merciful pays out rope to the misguided until they see what was promised, and learn whose place was worse.

A reflection

Even the rope is held by the Most Merciful

Fa-l-yamdud lahu al-Raḥmānu maddā: let the Most Merciful extend for him an extension. Of all Allah's names, this ayah chooses al-Raḥmān for the One who gives the misguided more time. That choice is the key to the ayah.

The extension is not neglect. It is mercy. Every extra year is another morning to turn round. The Qur'an makes the point elsewhere, in words spoken to the lost. Did We not give you a life long enough for anyone who would reflect to reflect (35:37)?

The verb is shaped like a command, let Him extend. Two commentators explain why. The command form signals that the thing is certain, as sure as an order already carried out. It also cuts away every excuse. No one will be able to say they were not given time.

Here the ego has its most comfortable hiding place: complacency. Nothing has happened to me yet, so perhaps nothing will. The years pass without a reckoning, and the self reads the silence as approval. It is the arrogance of assuming that delay means permission.

The Prophet ﷺ warned against exactly this, as Sahih al-Bukhari records. Allah gives the wrongdoer respite, he said, until, when He seizes him, He does not let him go. Then he recited: such is the seizing of your Lord when He seizes towns while they do wrong (11:102).

So the respite holds two truths at once. It is the gentlest thing the Most Merciful does, because it leaves the door open. And it is the most serious, because it has an end.

A reader who has been given long years should not ask why nothing has happened. The better question is what this extra time is for. The Most Merciful is holding the rope. He is waiting to see which way we walk.

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.