Al-Hajj · Madani · ayah 3 of 78

Al-Hajj 22:3

وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يُجَـٰدِلُ فِى ٱللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَيَتَّبِعُ كُلَّ شَيْطَـٰنٍ مَّرِيدٍ

“And of the people is he who disputes about Allāh without knowledge and follows every rebellious devil.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Right after the warning of the Hour, a man argues about Allah with nothing in his hands, and the ayah calls him a follower.

A reflection

Arguing while the siren sounds

Read the opening of Al-Hajj in one breath, and this third ayah lands like a jolt.

Two ayat have just described the quake of the Hour. A mother lets go of her nursing child. Crowds reel with nothing to drink. Then, with a simple 'and', the ayah turns: and among people is one who disputes about Allah without knowledge.

A theologian among the commentators sees two ways to read the link. Perhaps the ayah now shows some of the people just addressed, and what they do with the warning. Or perhaps the point is sharper. Even after a warning this severe, there are people who argue.

Picture a town by a river in a wet winter. The flood siren sounds at two in the morning. Most residents grab coats and children and head for higher ground. One man stands on his doorstep in his dressing gown, phone to his ear. He is telling the council's emergency line that their river gauge is miscalibrated. He has never seen the gauge. The water is already in his street.

It is not that his question is forbidden. Gauges can be wrong. The problem is the timing and the posture. The warning has sounded, and he has chosen to make it a debate.

Compare the scene in the first ayah's story. A column of riders hears one voice and closes up around it. Here a man hears a far louder warning and turns away to argue.

The commentators say what this man disputed. The concise commentaries name it: Allah's power to raise the dead. He looked at bones that had become dust and declared their return impossible.

So the ayah describes a familiar human move. When the news is unwelcome, attack the evidence. If the Hour is real, everything must change. If it can be argued away, nothing must.

The question is not about that man alone. When a warning reaches me, about my health, my habits or my soul, what is my first move? Do I close up around the voice, or reach for the phone to dispute the gauge?

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.