Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 8 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:8

أَوْ يُلْقَىٰٓ إِلَيْهِ كَنزٌ أَوْ تَكُونُ لَهُۥ جَنَّةٌ يَأْكُلُ مِنْهَا ۚ وَقَالَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ إِن تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا رَجُلًا مَّسْحُورًا

“Or [why is not] a treasure presented to him [from heaven], or does he [not] have a garden from which he eats?" And the wrongdoers say, "You follow not but a man affected by magic."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Their demands fell from an angel to a treasure to an orchard, then to name-calling, because evidence was never what they wanted.

A reflection

The bar that kept falling

Read 25:7 and 25:8 together and a pattern appears. One classical commentary traces it step by step. First they implied a messenger should be an angel, above eating and earning. Then they climbed down: let him at least have an angel beside him. Then down again: if not an angel, a treasure thrown from the sky. Then lower still: at least an orchard to live off, like the landowners.

Each demand is smaller than the last. That should have made it easier to meet. It made no difference, because none of them was the real issue. When the last request went nowhere, they dropped requests altogether and reached for an insult: a man bewitched.

This is how to recognise an objection that is not really an objection. The bar keeps moving, always downward, and it is never met.

A man tells himself he will start praying properly after the house move. After the move, it becomes after the promotion. After the promotion, it is when the children are older. Each condition is more modest than the one before. Each, when it arrives, is quietly replaced. The conditions were never the obstacle. They were the shelter.

The strategic lesson runs in two directions. When someone keeps lowering their demands of you and still will not move, stop meeting demands. Ask what they actually want. The answer is often a status they fear losing.

And when you catch yourself setting conditions for obedience, write them down in order. If each is smaller than the last and none is ever enough, the list is not a set of reasons. It is a way of saying no slowly.

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.