Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 74 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:74

قَالُوا۟ بَلْ وَجَدْنَآ ءَابَآءَنَا كَذَٰلِكَ يَفْعَلُونَ

“They said, "But we found our fathers doing thus."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Asked whether their idols hear, help or harm, the people change the subject to their fathers, and one word, 'rather', quietly concedes everything.

A reflection

The word that changes the subject

Ibrahim had asked three things. Do they hear you? Do they benefit you? Do they harm? The reply begins with one small word: bal, rather.

Grammarians call it a word of turning away. It sets aside what came before and puts something else in its place. One commentator reads the whole reply through it. They turned away from claiming any hearing, benefit or harm for their idols. They admitted what they had no way to deny. And they were forced to show they had no support except imitation. The concise commentaries fill in the unspoken half. No, they hear nothing, help nothing, harm nothing; rather, we found our fathers doing this.

So the reply is a confession that sounds like a defence.

At a school governors' meeting, a parent asks whether the uniform supplier gives good value. The blazers fray within a term and cost twice the high-street price. The chair answers warmly that the school has used them for thirty years. It sounds like an answer. It is an answer to a different question. She asked whether they were good. He told her how long they had been there.

Listen for that move in yourself. Someone asks 'does this actually work?', and you reach for 'we have always'. You have just used their bal. Something has been conceded, even if you have not noticed it.

There is mercy in seeing it. Ibrahim's people had, in one word, told him the truth: the idols did nothing. That honesty, however reluctant, was a door. A person who admits 'I have no reason except habit' is one step from looking for a reason. The danger lies only in mistaking the habit for the reason.

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.