Al-Hajj · Madani · ayah 48 of 78

Al-Hajj 22:48

وَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَمْلَيْتُ لَهَا وَهِىَ ظَالِمَةٌ ثُمَّ أَخَذْتُهَا وَإِلَىَّ ٱلْمَصِيرُ

“And for how many a city did I prolong enjoyment while it was committing wrong. Then I seized it, and to Me is the [final] destination.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Many a wrongdoing town was given time by Allah Himself, then taken in hand; and every road, after that, comes home to Him.

A reflection

From 'We' to 'I'

Three ayat ago, the voice said We. Ahlaknāhā: We destroyed it. One commentator explains that plural as the plural of majesty, the royal We. Now the voice changes. Amlaytu: I gave it time. Akhadhtuhā: I took it. Ilayya: to Me. Three times in one short ayah, the speaker is a single 'I'.

The shift is intimate, and it is total. There is no committee in the respite and no partner in the seizing. One commentator draws this out from the last phrase. To My judgement is the return, he says, and to no one else. Not on their own, and not as a partner.

The verb akhadhtuhā carries its own picture. The lexicons say the root means gathering a thing into your possession. 'Take the rein,' the Arabs said, of a camel's nose-rope. A captive was akhīdh, the one taken. The town that had run free for so long was finally led by the rein.

This is where the ego should shrink. Picture a man who inherits a family firm that his grandfather founded. Business has been good for decades. One year he has the old sign taken down and his own name painted up. He has started to believe the long run of success was his doing.

The towns in this ayah made the same mistake on a larger scale. The time they had felt like their achievement. In fact every year of it was given. Amlaytu lahā: I extended it for her. The respite was never theirs.

Some ask why the ayah presses the 'I' so hard. Does Allah need to assert Himself? He needs nothing. The emphasis is for us. If no one else gives respite and no one else seizes, then there is no one else to flatter, bribe or fear. And the One who gave the time is the One we return to. That is a warning to the proud, and a deep relief to the frightened.

So whatever stretch of ease you are living in, read the 'I' behind it. Your good years were extended by Someone. Thank Him by name, and never paint your own name over His.

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.