Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 74 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:74

ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ فَهِىَ كَٱلْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً ۚ وَإِنَّ مِنَ ٱلْحِجَارَةِ لَمَا يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ ۚ وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَشَّقَّقُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ ٱلْمَآءُ ۚ وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَمَا ٱللَّهُ بِغَـٰفِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ

“Then your hearts became hardened after that, being like stones or even harder. For indeed, there are stones from which rivers burst forth, and there are some of them that split open and water comes out, and there are some of them that fall down for fear of Allāh. And Allāh is not unaware of what you do.”

Saheeh International

Essence

After all those signs their hearts hardened like rock, or harder: even rock lets water through, and some falls in awe of Allah.

A reflection

Rock that falls in awe of Allah

A pilgrim stands at the foot of Mount Uhud at dawn. She has read about the mountain all her life. She is surprised to find that she feels tenderness for a hill of red rock.

'And some of them fall down out of awe of Allah.' Some readers have taken this as a figure of speech. Several major commentators disagree. There is no need for that, they say. Allah creates this quality in stone according to its nature. 'There is nothing that does not glorify Him with praise, but you do not understand their glorification' (17:44).

One of them gathers evidence. 'Had We sent down this Quran upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled, splitting apart in awe of Allah' (59:21). The Prophet ﷺ said of Uhud: 'This is a mountain that loves us, and we love it' (Sahih al-Bukhari). He said he knew a stone in Makkah that used to greet him before his prophethood (Sahih Muslim). And when he moved from the palm trunk he used to lean on to a new pulpit, the trunk cried like a child (Sahih al-Bukhari).

A classical theologian explains what hardness of heart really is. A heart, by nature, is moved by signs. Being moved means leaving rebellion and arrogance, and showing humility and fear before Allah. Hardness is when something has stopped it being moved.

That is the sting of the ayah. Rock yields to its Lord, and does not resist what He does in it. Pride is the one thing that can make a human heart harder than a mountain. The question is whether mine still bows.

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.