Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 119 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:119

إِنَّآ أَرْسَلْنَـٰكَ بِٱلْحَقِّ بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا ۖ وَلَا تُسْـَٔلُ عَنْ أَصْحَـٰبِ ٱلْجَحِيمِ

“Indeed, We have sent you, [O Muḥammad], with the truth as a bringer of good tidings and a warner, and you will not be asked about the companions of Hellfire.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The Prophet ﷺ was sent with the truth, to give good news and to warn; those who refuse it are not his to answer for.

A reflection

You were sent to deliver, not to compel

An imam visits a dying man in hospital at his family's request. He speaks gently about Allah's mercy and offers to help him say the testimony of faith. The man thanks him politely and declines. The imam drives home in silence. For a week he replays every word, wondering what he should have said differently.

The ayah was revealed to someone carrying a far heavier version of that grief. A linguist-commentator explains that it was a consolation for the Prophet ﷺ. He was distressed, his chest tight, at how firmly people refused the truth. Allah tells him: We sent you with the truth, to give good news and to warn. You will not be asked about the people of the Fire.

A classical theologian draws out what this means. Their refusal does not harm you, and you are not answerable for it. Your task was to deliver, and you delivered. Another ayah says it plainly: 'Yours is only to convey, and Ours is the reckoning' (13:40). And another: 'So let not your soul go out in grief for them' (35:8).

Anyone who cares about others' faith, a parent, a teacher, a friend, can be crushed by the same weight. We confuse responsibility for the message with control over the heart. The first is ours. The second never was.

This is not permission to stop caring, or to stop praying for people. It is permission to hand the outcome to the One who turns hearts, and to sleep.

The imam went back to the hospital the next week, to visit another patient. He had done what was asked of him. The rest was with Allah.

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.