Al-Mu'minun · Makki · ayah 54 of 118

Al-Mu'minun 23:54

فَذَرْهُمْ فِى غَمْرَتِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ حِينٍ

“So leave them in their confusion for a time.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those drowning in their own certainty are left to their flood for a while, and the while has an end they cannot see.

A reflection

Water over the head

A diver in a murky quarry loses sight of the light. She cannot feel which way is up. She kicks hard towards what she is sure is the surface, and goes deeper.

Ghamra is the word the ayah chooses for where these people are. The lexicons give its image as established: ghamr is deep water that covers whoever enters it, and a ghamra rises above a man's height. Several commentators repeat it. It is the water that covers a standing man.

One commentator draws the comparison directly. Their ignorance and confusion have become like a flood covering and hiding their minds. Another notes the root's first sense is covering. From it comes ghimr, the rancour that covers the heart, and ghamr, abundant water that covers the land.

The image matters because of what it says about seeing. From inside deep water, you cannot see the shore. You cannot see the people calling to you. You cannot even tell which way is up. Every effort you make is sincere, and some of it takes you further down.

That is what the previous ayah described: each party delighted with what it had. Delight is easy when you cannot see anything else. The flood does not feel like a flood from inside. It feels like the whole world.

Early authorities glossed the ghamra in several ways: their misguidance, their blindness, their heedlessness. One commentator, holding them together, says the point is what overpowers and consumes. Ignorance is not a light mist. It is water over the head.

This is a sobering picture to turn on yourself. Is there any subject on which I can no longer see the shore? Any certainty so complete that every counter-argument just looks like the deep? The diver's only hope is to stop kicking and look for the bubbles, which always rise. For a heart, the bubbles are the plain words of revelation, read again with the readiness to be wrong.

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.