Al-Hajj · Madani · ayah 4 of 78

Al-Hajj 22:4

كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِ أَنَّهُۥ مَن تَوَلَّاهُ فَأَنَّهُۥ يُضِلُّهُۥ وَيَهْدِيهِ إِلَىٰ عَذَابِ ٱلسَّعِيرِ

“It has been decreed for him [i.e., every devil] that whoever turns to him - he will misguide him and will lead him to the punishment of the Blaze.”

Saheeh International

Essence

It is written on every rebel devil: whoever takes him close, he will lose them first, then lead them all the way to the Blaze.

A reflection

Lost first, then led

Look at the order of the two verbs. First yuḍilluhu: he leads him astray. Then wa yahdīhi: and he guides him. The devil does two jobs, one after the other. He loses you, and then he finds you a road.

The second verb is the one that should startle us. Hadā is the word the Quran uses for Allah's own guidance, the guidance asked for in every prayer. One classical derivation pictures being led all the way, as a bride is led to her husband's house. You are not pointed at a road; you are walked to an arrival. Here the same verb is used of the devil, with a bitter twist. Commentators call it a mocking figure of speech. He really is a guide. He really does get you somewhere. The destination is ʿadhāb al-saʿīr, the punishment of the Blaze.

Why does the losing come first? Because a person who is lost will take almost any confident direction. Picture a tourist at a foreign ferry port, late and unable to read the signs. Ten queues, three languages, no announcements. A man with a clipboard strides up, calls him by his destination and waves him briskly to a gate. The relief is enormous. Only on the water does he learn he paid three times the fare for the wrong island.

The man with the clipboard did not need to argue. He only needed the tourist to be bewildered first. Bewilderment is the root picture of the first verb: the classical writers compared it to milk lost in water, swallowed up and no longer found.

This is a quiet lesson about our own worst moments. After a bereavement, a breakup, a failure, we are most vulnerable to anyone who sounds certain. The devil's method is to unsettle you and then offer a firm hand.

So when you feel lost, notice who is quickest to offer a road. The first confident voice is not always the true one. The true guide is the One you ask for guidance in every prayer, by name.

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.