An-Naml · Makki · ayah 43 of 93

An-Naml 27:43

وَصَدَّهَا مَا كَانَت تَّعْبُدُ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّهَا كَانَتْ مِن قَوْمٍ كَـٰفِرِينَ

“And that which she was worshipping other than Allāh had averted her [from submission to Him]. Indeed, she was from a disbelieving people."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Her mind was sharp; what held the queen back was what she worshipped, and the people she grew up among.

A reflection

Clever enough, and still turned aside

A mountain guide has climbed for thirty years. He reads cloud and wind better than any forecast. Twice he has turned back two hundred metres below one particular summit. On the third attempt the signs are the same: the wind is rising, the light is going. Every client can see he knows. He keeps climbing anyway. The summit has become the thing he serves.

The ayah before this one shows the queen's intelligence at full stretch. Shown her disguised throne, she gave an answer the commentaries call the height of good sense. Then, without a pause, this ayah explains why so sharp a mind had not yet come to faith.

Wa-ṣaddahā mā kānat taʿbudu min dūni Allāh: and what she used to worship besides Allah had turned her aside. Notice the grammar. In this reading, the subject of the verb is the thing worshipped itself. Her mind was not the obstacle. Her object of worship was.

One commentary draws that contrast plainly. Some had claimed she lacked sense. No, it says: what blocked her was not any weakness of intellect, but that she worshipped other than Allah.

This cuts against a comfortable modern belief: that clever people believe only what is true. Intelligence is a fine engine, but it drives wherever the heart is already facing. Nineteen ayat earlier, the hoopoe used the same verb: Shaytan had made their deeds look fair and turned them aside from the way (27:24).

So the question is not how bright you are. It is what you are already bowing to, and which way it has already turned you.

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.