Al-Mu'minun · Makki · ayah 107 of 118

Al-Mu'minun 23:107

رَبَّنَآ أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْهَا فَإِنْ عُدْنَا فَإِنَّا ظَـٰلِمُونَ

“Our Lord, remove us from it, and if we were to return [to evil], we would indeed be wrongdoers."”

Saheeh International

Essence

'Bring us out; if we go back, we are wrongdoers': a promise made inside the consequences, by people who had a lifetime to keep it.

A reflection

Why not one more chance?

At a parole hearing a man reads out a statement. He is sorry. He has changed. If he is released and ever offends again, he says, he will deserve whatever comes. The words are sincere in the moment. On the board's table lie his two previous statements, almost word for word the same.

The sceptic's question is reasonable. These people are asking for a second chance, and promising to take it. A merciful God, surely, would grant it. Why is the plea refused?

The surah has already answered part of this. Just before the scenes of Judgement, a dying man begs to be sent back. Then I will do good in what I left behind, he says (23:99-100). The reply was kallā, no. The commentaries note that the people of the Fire now ask for the same thing again.

One classical commentator offers a striking reading of their plea. They seem to assume, he says, that their bad disposition would be different if they went back, because of what they have now seen. But what changed them was not their hearts. It was the heat. Remove the Fire and the motive vanishes. The Quran says elsewhere that if they were returned, they would go back to what they were forbidden (6:28).

The narrations preserved in the commentaries also show what came before this plea. They are framed as reports, not sayings of the Prophet ﷺ. In them the people of the Fire are reminded of a long life already given, and warners who came (35:37). The second chance they ask for is not a second chance. It is roughly the ten-thousandth.

What remains open is how this feels to read. It is meant to feel heavy. The lesson, though, is not about them. It is about the chances you are being given now, each one real, each one unrepeated. A promise made after the gate closes is easy. The one that counts is made while the door is still open, and kept with nothing forcing it.

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.