Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 29 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:29

لَّقَدْ أَضَلَّنِى عَنِ ٱلذِّكْرِ بَعْدَ إِذْ جَآءَنِى ۗ وَكَانَ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ لِلْإِنسَـٰنِ خَذُولًا

“He led me away from the remembrance[1020] after it had come to me. And ever is Satan, to man, a deserter."[1021]”

Saheeh International

Essence

He was not dragged into darkness, but drawn from a Reminder already in his hands by a friend who then left him.

A reflection

Not a plunge, a drift; not horns, a familiar face

Two pictures usually come with this ayah. Being led astray means something dramatic: a plunge into wild sin, a life obviously ruined. And Shayṭān is a horned figure somewhere off-stage, whispering.

The words say something quieter, and more frightening.

Aḍallanī is from a root the Word Dictionary describes as losing the way. One of its pictures is milk vanishing into water. Nothing explodes. It simply blends until it cannot be found. And he was led astray ʿani al-dhikr, away from the Reminder. The loss is not described as a crime committed. It is a Reminder that slipped away.

Then baʿda idh jāʾanī: after it had come to me. One commentary explains that it reached him, he knew it, and he had it within reach. He did not wander in the dark without a lamp. The lamp was in his hand, and he let himself be talked into putting it down.

Now the devil. The ayah ends: wa-kāna al-shayṭānu li-l-insāni khadhūlā. The commentaries give several readings of who this Shayṭān is. One is Iblīs himself. But another is the friend from the ayah before. He is called a devil, one commentary says, because he misled him as a devil misleads, then abandoned him. Another commentary widens it: everyone who bars people from Allah's path is a shayṭān, whether of jinn or of humans.

So the devil of this ayah may have had a face you knew. He may have had a laugh you liked and a seat at your table. He did not need horns. He needed only to make the Reminder seem unimportant, a little at a time.

That is the assumption this ayah dislodges. Ruin rarely announces itself. It usually sounds like a friend saying: relax, there is plenty of time.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.