Al-Mu'minun · Makki · ayah 108 of 118

Al-Mu'minun 23:108

قَالَ ٱخْسَـُٔوا۟ فِيهَا وَلَا تُكَلِّمُونِ

“He will say, "Remain despised therein and do not speak to Me.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The King who invited every human being to speak to Him, day and night, closes the audience to those who never came.

A reflection

The audience that was open every day

In the old courts of kings, an audience was a rare thing. Petitioners waited months in outer rooms. Courtiers decided who passed the door. When you were finally admitted, you had a few minutes, and you chose every word with care.

Now consider the King of all kings. He tells every human being: call on Me, and I will answer you (40:60). When My servants ask about Me, I am near; I answer the call of the caller when he calls (2:186). He tells them to ask, and promises to answer.

No outer room, no courtier, no appointment. The audience is open five times a day, and in every hour between. You may speak to Him in any language, in silence, in tears, in a car, on a hospital bed.

That is the background against which this ayah lands: wa-lā tukallimūn, and do not speak to Me. The One whose door stood open for a lifetime closes it. One commentary explains it as: do not return to this request, for you have no answer from Me. Another says that at this point their prayer and their hope were cut off.

The same ayah that promises 'call on Me' continues: those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell, humbled (40:60). That is the ego's tragedy in two lines. The proud self would not speak to its Lord when every door was open. It thought it had better things to say, to better listeners. At the end, it begs for the very audience it ignored.

This ayah should make any pride shrink. Our self-importance can make us too busy, too clever or too embarrassed to pray. It is offered free access to the King of everything, and it declines. Humility begins with accepting the invitation while it is still being given.

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.