Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 1 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:1

ٱقْتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ حِسَابُهُمْ وَهُمْ فِى غَفْلَةٍ مُّعْرِضُونَ

“[The time of] their account has approached for the people, while they are in heedlessness turning away.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The reckoning is already walking towards everyone, and the tragedy is not that it comes but that people meet it looking the other way.

A reflection

The last night's march to the water

The surah opens on one verb: iqtaraba, it has drawn near. The first hearers had a picture for the root. A caravan heading to water let its camels graze as they walked, for days. When only one night's march remained, the herders stopped the grazing and pushed on through the dark, to reach the water by dawn. That night was called laylat al-qarab, the night of drawing near. The lexicons record the image plainly; it is established, not a guess.

The form used here is not the plain qaruba but iqtaraba, with added letters. One commentary notes the view that the longer form is the stronger one: not simply near, but pressing closer. And notice who is doing the moving. The ayah does not say that people approached their reckoning. It says the reckoning approached them. A commentator draws this out. The nearness is given to the reckoning because it is the one advancing. It keeps seeking them, and will reach them whatever they do.

Then there is the order of the words. The Arabic says, literally: it has drawn near, to the people, their reckoning. The thing that is coming is held back to the end. A classical reading explains the effect. You hear that something is closing in on you before you are told what it is. The mind runs in every direction while it waits.

Picture a woman half asleep on a long train. The speaker crackles: "We are now approaching…" and for one second her heart lurches. Is it her stop? Has she missed it? Then the name comes, and it is hers. She was not ready; her coat is on the hook and her bag is under the seat. The ayah is built like that announcement. It says approaching, and to you, and only then names the stop that every passenger shares.

The camels on the night of drawing near were hurried because the water was close. The ayah asks a quieter question. If the meeting is this close, why is anyone still grazing?

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.