Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 46 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:46

ٱلَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلَـٰقُوا۟ رَبِّهِمْ وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَٰجِعُونَ

“Who are certain that they will meet their Lord and that they will return to Him.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The humble are those certain, without having seen it, that they will meet their Lord and return to Him; that certainty makes prayer light.

A reflection

The key in the lock

A mother is washing up late at night when she hears a key turn in the front door downstairs. She has not seen her son come in. She has not heard his voice. But she does not wonder who it is. She knows.

The ayah describes the humble as those who yaẓunnūn that they will meet their Lord. Many readers stumble here, because ẓann usually means supposing or guessing. Did the humble only half believe?

A major early commentator raises the objection himself, then answers it. The Arabs, he explains, use some words for a thing and its opposite. Sudfa can mean darkness or light. Ṣārikh can mean the one who cries for help or the one who answers. Ẓann can mean doubt or certainty. He cites a poet warning his tribe to be certain of an enemy army: ẓunnū, be sure of two thousand armoured riders. The concise commentaries all explain it here as yūqinūn: they are certain.

Another commentator adds a refinement. The Arabs used ẓann for certainty only about what has not yet reached the senses. You would never say 'I am sure this is a man' of someone standing in front of you. So the word is exactly right. It names a certainty about something real, not yet seen.

One early reading of this ayah even replaced the word with yaʿlamūn, they know, and a classical linguist cites it. The meaning is the same.

That is the believer's position with the meeting with Allah. It has not come to the senses. It is not a guess. Like the key in the lock, it is known before it is seen.

The Quran uses the word the same way of a man on the Day of Judgement. 'I was certain I would meet my account' (69:20).

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.