Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 205 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:205

وَإِذَا تَوَلَّىٰ سَعَىٰ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ ٱلْحَرْثَ وَٱلنَّسْلَ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْفَسَادَ

“And when he goes away, he strives throughout the land to cause corruption therein and destroy crops and animals. And Allāh does not like corruption.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The smooth talker shows his truth when he leaves the room or gains power; he ruins fields and young, and Allah does not love ruin.

A reflection

What he does when the meeting ends

A councillor smiles warmly at every residents' meeting about the village playing field. The next morning he votes to sell it to a developer.

The previous ayah described a man whose speech dazzles. This one shows the other side of him. 'When he turns away, he strives in the land to spread corruption in it'. The concise commentaries take 'turns away' simply: when he leaves your presence. The smile was for the room.

A later commentator records a second reading, from an early scholar. Tawallā can also mean 'when he takes charge': when he gains authority. A rhetorician spells it out. When he becomes a governor, he does what bad governors do.

Both readings reveal the same truth. Character is not shown in the meeting. It is shown when the meeting ends, and when power arrives. A person's real priorities appear the moment no one is watching, or the moment no one can stop him.

The verb saʿā adds energy. He does not drift into harm. He works at it, with effort and purpose, the way others work at good.

For anyone who chooses leaders, hires managers or trusts officials, this is the test. Do not judge by what is said to you. Judge by what is done after you leave, and by how a person used the last small power he had.

And for anyone who leads: your people already know the difference between your meeting face and your Monday morning. The ayah asks you to close that gap.

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.