Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 67 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:67

أُفٍّ لَّكُمْ وَلِمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ

“Uff[894] to you and to what you worship instead of Allāh. Then will you not use reason?"”

Saheeh International

Essence

Every argument spent, Ibrahim breathed one small sound of disgust at the idols and left a last door open: will you not use your minds?

A reflection

A puff of breath at the ash

Uffin lakum: uff to you. It is barely a word. The lexicons trace it to the grime under a fingernail or in the ear, anything felt as dirty. It is also the puff of breath you blow at dust or ash that has fallen on you, to be rid of it. From there it became the sound of vexation at something felt as a burden. One commentator calls it the sound of the exasperated, as at something filthy; it then became a word meaning "I am wearied".

So the climax of Ibrahim's long argument is not a speech. It is a breath. Every question had been asked and every proof given; concessions had been dragged from their own mouths. Now he blows at the whole business, as you blow ash off your sleeve.

Picture a woman clearing her late aunt's attic. Boxes have sat under the eaves for thirty years. She lifts the lid of one and a cloud of grey dust rises into her face. Without thinking, she turns her head and blows: phuh. It is not anger. It is not a decision. It is the body's reflex against something that has settled where it should not be.

The commentaries render Ibrahim's sound bluntly: ugliness to you, ruin and filth to you, stench to you. One explains what had brought him to it: their persistence in falsehood after every excuse was gone and the truth was plain.

There is a lesson in the size of the word. Some things do not deserve another lecture. Once the truth has been shown, falsehood merits only a breath to clear it away. The reader can learn to recognise such things in their own life, and to blow the ash off rather than keep sifting it.

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.