An-Naml · Makki · ayah 70 of 93

An-Naml 27:70

وَلَا تَحْزَنْ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا تَكُن فِى ضَيْقٍ مِّمَّا يَمْكُرُونَ

“And grieve not over them or be in distress from what they conspire.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Two weights are lifted in one breath: the sorrow you carry for people who turn away, and the tightness their scheming presses into your chest.

A reflection

Two loads: one carried for them, one pressed on you by them

Read the ayah slowly and it separates into two different burdens. The first is grief for them: do not grieve over them. The second is pressure from them: do not be in distress from what they plot. One is the ache of love watching people walk away from what would save them. The other is the tightening of the chest when those same people work against you.

They feel alike from the inside, and that is why they are so often confused. Both keep you awake. Both replay conversations. But they come from opposite directions. The first flows out of you towards them; it is compassion that has turned into a wound. The second flows in from them towards you; it is fear that has taken up residence.

One classical commentator noticed exactly this pairing. He wrote that the ayah removes the sorrow caused by their disbelief and the fear caused by their hostility together. Taken as a pair, he said, it reads almost like a guarantee of support. Allah does not say "they will not plot." He says the plotting will not be allowed to own the Messenger's chest.

This matters for anyone who is carrying something heavy about other people. Ask which of the two you are holding. If it is grief for someone's choices, keep your care. Set down the weight of their outcome, which was never yours. If it is fear of someone's schemes, the answer is to remember who is watching them scheme.

Many people treat both with one remedy, and it fails. They try to stop caring, hoping the fear will go with it. Or they try to win the fight, hoping the sorrow will lift. The ayah names them separately so that each can be healed on its own terms.

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.