Al-Hajj · Madani · ayah 51 of 78

Al-Hajj 22:51

وَٱلَّذِينَ سَعَوْا۟ فِىٓ ءَايَـٰتِنَا مُعَـٰجِزِينَ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَـٰبُ ٱلْجَحِيمِ

“But the ones who strove against Our verses, [seeking] to cause failure[932] - those are the companions of Hellfire.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those who hurried to outrun and defeat Allah's signs end bound to the blazing Fire, in a company that never parts.

A reflection

Racing the One no one outruns

Two words in this ayah describe motion. Saʿaw comes from a root whose established picture is a brisk walk, almost a run: someone moving with purpose. Muʿājizīn comes from a race. The lexicons record that picture too: a runner left behind, watching the one ahead pass out of reach.

One classical linguist explains the form. ʿĀjazahu means he raced him, because each runner tries to leave the other unable to catch up. When one wins, he has left the other helpless behind.

So the ayah draws people who treat Allah's signs as a contest. They hurry. They try to get ahead of the message and leave it beaten behind them. Commentators differ over whom they imagined outrunning. An early authority said they thought they could escape Allah, beyond His reach. They denied the resurrection, so they believed nothing waited at the finish. One theologian thought it closer that they hoped to outrun the Messenger and the believers, by schemes and tricks.

Either way, it is a race that cannot be won. Picture a man in an airport, late, running hard the wrong way down a moving walkway. His legs pump, his bag swings, his face reddens. The floor carries him back at the speed he runs. After a minute of effort he is exactly where he began, out of breath.

Running from Allah is like that, only more so, because the walkway is His as well. Every step, every breath, every hour of the campaign is borrowed from Him.

The ego hates this. It wants to be the one who outpaces, who leaves others behind. Some of the hardest people to reach are not careless at all. They are energetic, clever and busy, and pointed in the wrong direction. The ayah's honest word for them is runners. Its quiet question is: running towards what?

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.