Al-Hajj · Madani · ayah 20 of 78

Al-Hajj 22:20

يُصْهَرُ بِهِۦ مَا فِى بُطُونِهِمْ وَٱلْجُلُودُ

“By which is melted that within their bellies and [their] skins.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The scalding water reaches the hidden inside and the visible skin alike: on that Day nothing about a person stays on the surface.

A reflection

Skin that shivers now, or skin that melts

A teenager sits near the back of a mosque during the night prayers of Ramadan. The imam's voice breaks on an ayah about the Day. Her arms prickle and the fine hairs on them lift. She did not decide to feel it. Her skin answered before she did.

This ayah ends on a single word: wa-l-julūd, and the skins. The lexicons picture jild as the tougher outer wall over the soft flesh, the place where blows land. They also note it as the place where awe first shows.

The Quran follows the skin through three scenes. In this life, 'the skins of those who fear their Lord shiver at it'. Then 'their skins and hearts soften to the remembrance of Allah' (39:23). On the Day of Judgement, their hearing, sight and skins testify against them for what they used to do. They ask their skins why, and the skins answer that Allah made them speak (41:20-21). And in the Fire: whenever their skins are roasted through, they are replaced with other skins, so that they taste the punishment (4:56).

Put those scenes in a row and a choice appears. The same skin can shiver now, at His words, or melt then. It can soften to His remembrance in this world, or testify against its owner in the next.

The teenager's prickling arms are not a small thing. They are the skin doing what it was made for, early, while it still counts. Many people are embarrassed to be moved in prayer, and hide it. This ayah suggests the opposite. Let the skin shiver. It is far kinder than the alternative.

And if your skin has not moved at the Quran for years, that is worth noticing too. Ask Allah to soften it. The same ayah, 39:23, calls that softening His guidance, by which He guides whom He wills.

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.