Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 69 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:69

يُضَـٰعَفْ لَهُ ٱلْعَذَابُ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ وَيَخْلُدْ فِيهِۦ مُهَانًا

“Multiplied for him is the punishment on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein humiliated -”

Saheeh International

Essence

The darkest line in the portrait is only half a sentence, and the word on the next page is 'except'.

A reflection

A sentence that is not finished

This ayah is often quoted alone, by critics and by preachers alike. Doubled punishment. Eternal. Humiliated. Read on its own, it seems to confirm the worst picture of religion. Here, apparently, is a God eager to punish, multiplying the penalty and closing the door for ever.

The grammar refuses to let it stand alone. The commentaries explain that its first verb is a substitute for the end of the ayah before. 'Whoever does that will meet athām', the recompense of sin. This ayah then spells out what that recompense is: punishment doubled, and lasting, in humiliation. One early grammarian put it in a phrase. The doubling of the punishment is the meeting with the recompense.

So this is the second half of a conditional sentence about a specific person: one who does what the ayah before describes. And the next ayah opens with the word illā: except. Except whoever repents, believes and does good.

The commentaries preserve a report that the Makkans seized on these lines when they were first recited. Muhammad claims, they said, that whoever has done these things has only the Fire. The answer came in the very next ayah.

A man opens a letter from the tax office. Page one lists penalties in bold: arrears, interest, a surcharge, a deadline. His stomach drops. Page two, which he almost does not turn to, offers a full amnesty to anyone who comes forward by the end of March.

This ayah is page one. It is meant to be read. It is not meant to be read alone. One concise commentary narrows it further. The threat of lasting punishment here, it says, is for one who did all of these things, or set up partners with Allah. And the next ayah adds the final condition: and did not turn back.

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.