Al-Mu'minun · Makki · ayah 113 of 118

Al-Mu'minun 23:113

قَالُوا۟ لَبِثْنَا يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ فَسْـَٔلِ ٱلْعَآدِّينَ

“They will say, "We remained a day or part of a day; ask those who enumerate."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Asked about a lifetime, they say 'a day, or part of one; ask those who count': people who never counted their own days.

A reflection

Ask someone else, we never kept count

At a health check, a doctor asks a man how many hours he sleeps and how much he drinks in a week. He hesitates, then laughs. His wife, sitting by the door, answers both questions for him, precisely. He looks surprised. He had never once counted.

Fa-sʾali al-ʿāddīn: so ask those who count. It is a remarkable answer to give about your own life. They do not know how long they lived. They suggest the questioner ask someone else, someone who kept track.

The commentaries offer several identities for these counters. Some early authorities said the angels who record people's deeds and number their hours. Others said the accountants, people whose job is counting. One classical commentator concluded that the ayah means anyone who counts months and years. No proof restricts it to one group. Another adds the plain sense: ask those able to count, for we, overwhelmed by punishment, are in no state to.

One commentator draws out the confession inside it. By saying 'ask those who count', they admit they have forgotten. They lived their years without counting them, and now cannot.

That is a mirror for an age of distraction. Many people genuinely do not know how their days pass. They could not say how many hours went to screens, how many to prayer, how many to their children. Others know: the phone's report, the bank statement, the spouse by the door. And, the Quran says, the noble writers who know whatever you do (82:10-12).

The point is not to become obsessed with figures. It is to be someone who could answer for their own life without having to point to another witness. The people in this ayah are asking to be judged by someone else's record because they kept none of their own.

So keep some count. Not of everything, but of what matters most. Know roughly how you spend your prayers, your evenings, your money. Be able to answer for yourself.

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.