Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 153 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:153

قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَآ أَنتَ مِنَ ٱلْمُسَحَّرِينَ

“They said, "You are only of those affected by magic.”

Saheeh International

Essence

With no answer to Salih's warning, Thamud diagnosed him instead: bewitched over and over, or, on another reading, a mere creature that eats.

A reflection

The insult that sounds like concern

At a christening, an aunt draws her niece aside. The niece is an engineer in her twenties who has recently started wearing hijab. The aunt's voice is low and kind. "Who has got to you, darling? You were never like this." She means it lovingly. She also means: I do not have to listen to anything you say about it.

That is the shape of Thamud's reply. Salih has just warned them against the excessive who spoil the land. They do not answer the warning. They answer the man. Innamā anta mina al-musaḥḥarīn: you are only one of the bewitched.

The form of the word sharpens it. Musaḥḥar is an intensive pattern. The concise commentaries explain it as one bewitched many times, until the magic overpowered his mind. A modern concise commentary says the magic took his reason away. This is not "you are a little confused". It is "you have been worked on so thoroughly that nothing you say counts".

Notice what such a label achieves. An argument can be answered. A diagnosis cannot, because every reply becomes a symptom. If Salih protests that he is sane, that is what a bewitched man would say. The label closes the conversation while sounding almost sympathetic.

The word innamā, only, adds a final door. You are only this. Nothing else about you needs to be weighed. Years of honest dealing, a clear message, a sound mind: all are folded into one explanation.

The modern word for this is often "brainwashed". It feels like concern. It works like dismissal. If someone you love uses it of you, remember that it was used of Salih first. And if you are tempted to use it of someone, ask whether you have answered what they actually said.

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.