Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 71 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:71

قَالُوا۟ نَعْبُدُ أَصْنَامًا فَنَظَلُّ لَهَا عَـٰكِفِينَ

“They said, "We worship idols and remain to them devoted."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Asked for one word, they gave a proud speech: we worship idols, and we stay devoted to them all day long.

A reflection

Asked for one word, they gave a speech

Ibrahim had asked what they worshipped. A complete answer needed one word: idols. Elsewhere the Quran records questions of this kind answered in one word. 'What has your Lord sent down?' 'Good' (16:30).

His people said more. 'We worship idols, and we remain devoted to them all day.' They repeated the verb. They added what nobody had asked. Several commentators stop on this. The surplus, they say, showed what was in their hearts: delight in the practice, and pride in it. One calls it the style of a boaster. Another compares it to a dandy. Ask him what he wears, and he tells you, then adds how he trails its hem past the young women of the quarter.

Picture a dinner party. Someone asks a man, 'Do you still go to the gym?' He could say yes. Instead he says, 'Six days a week, two hours a session. Haven't missed one in three years.' The table goes quiet for a second. He has told them nothing they asked. He has told them a great deal they did not.

The extra words are where the self shows. People rarely over-answer about things that do not matter to them. Pride leaks out in the margins of a sentence.

This gives a quiet tool for knowing yourself. Listen to your own answers. Where do you add detail nobody requested? Hours worked, money spent, followers gained, nights without sleep? There, very often, is what you are proud of. Sometimes that pride is harmless. Sometimes it is the first sign that a thing has moved from the hand into the heart.

Ibrahim's people were not ashamed. They were showing off their devotion. The very next ayah shows how little that devotion could bear.

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.