Al-Hajj · Madani · ayah 55 of 78

Al-Hajj 22:55

وَلَا يَزَالُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فِى مِرْيَةٍ مِّنْهُ حَتَّىٰ تَأْتِيَهُمُ ٱلسَّاعَةُ بَغْتَةً أَوْ يَأْتِيَهُمْ عَذَابُ يَوْمٍ عَقِيمٍ

“But those who disbelieve will not cease to be in doubt of it until the Hour comes upon them unexpectedly or there comes to them the punishment of a barren Day.[935]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those who chose denial keep circling their doubt until the Hour arrives unannounced, or a day that has no tomorrow.

A reflection

The ninth viewing of the same house

The ayah uses a particular word for doubt: mirya. It is not the general word for not knowing. One lexicon defines it as wavering over a matter, going back and forth between two sides.

One classical view traces it to a striking picture. The root's first sense, in one lexicon, is stroking a she-camel's udder to bring the milk down. The hand strokes and strokes, coaxing out milk that will not come. Another lexicon links mirya back to that same stroking. It is one view, not settled, but it fits the ayah well. This is doubt that keeps working at the same question without the result arriving.

And the ayah pairs it with lā yazālu, 'they will not cease'. This is not a passing phase of questioning. It is a state they cling to.

Picture a man who has viewed the same house nine times. Each time he finds a new question. The boiler's age. The neighbours' trees. The light in the back bedroom in winter. The agent answers every question patiently. Then he asks for a tenth viewing. By now, everyone but him can see the truth. He is not trying to decide. Viewing has become a way of never deciding.

That is the shape of mirya the ayah describes. The answers have come. The signs have been shown. The doubt is no longer waiting for evidence; it has become a home.

The commentators differ on what minhu, 'of it', refers to. One early authority says it is the Quran, and the leading early commentator prefers that view. Others say it is what Satan cast in the previous ayat, or the Prophet himself. On every reading, the doubt has an object they keep handling and never settle.

It is worth asking if any of our own questions have become like this. Not every question. Honest questions are a gift. But some of us keep a question alive because answering it would demand a change we do not want to make.

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.