Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 70 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:70

وَأَرَادُوا۟ بِهِۦ كَيْدًا فَجَعَلْنَـٰهُمُ ٱلْأَخْسَرِينَ

“And they intended for him a plan [i.e., harm], but We made them the greatest losers.”

Saheeh International

Essence

They struck and struck for a spark to destroy him, and the whole enterprise came back to them as pure loss.

A reflection

Ruin, as a trader counts it

Two words carry the whole verdict, and the first hearers would have seen both. Kayd, plot, was said of a flint struck hard and slowly until it gives up its spark. It is effort forced out of something to bring about an end. And khusr, loss, belongs to the market: a trader watching his capital shrink until nothing is left. Both images are established in the lexicons.

So the ayah tells a story of striking and spending. They laboured at their scheme, almost literally striking for fire. One commentary says they lost the effort and the expense and did not get what they wanted. Another goes further: they became the greatest losers of all. Their attempt to put out the light of truth became the proof that Ibrahim was right.

That is the humbling part for anyone who plans against others. Our ego imagines our schemes as ours to steer. But the outcome sits with Allah, fa-jaʿalnāhum: We made them. He needs no counter-plot. The plot itself becomes the loss.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.