An-Naml · Makki · ayah 72 of 93

An-Naml 27:72

قُلْ عَسَىٰٓ أَن يَكُونَ رَدِفَ لَكُم بَعْضُ ٱلَّذِى تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ

“Say, "Perhaps it is close behind you [i.e., very near] - some of that for which you are impatient.”

Saheeh International

Essence

They demanded a date; the reply gives a distance instead: part of what you are hurrying for may already be sitting right behind you.

A reflection

Already in the saddle behind you

The key word is radifa. Its root means following, and its plainest picture is the radīf: the second rider seated behind the first on the same camel. The lexicons extend it to stars that rise one after another, and to night and day, called al-radfān, the two that ride in turn. One old line in the commentaries has a poet greeting his first grey hairs. He gives them no welcome, "when they came riding up behind".

Now hear the reply with that picture in mind. The mockers asked "when?", as if the threat were somewhere far down the road ahead. The answer says it may not be ahead at all. It may already be on your own mount, sitting just behind your back, close enough to touch.

That is a terrifying image for anyone who thinks he is riding away from consequences. You cannot outride a passenger. Every mile you cover, you carry him with you. The faster you go, the closer he holds on.

One classical scholar noticed something more in the small word lakum, "for you". He suggested that what follows behind is, in a sense, their own demand. They said "when?", and the answer rode in close behind their words. The request itself drew the thing nearer.

There is a gentler side to the image for a believer. A radīf is only dangerous if you are riding from the wrong thing. For the one who has turned back to Allah, what rides behind is the record of every good deed, keeping pace. The question is not whether something follows you. Something always does. The question is what.

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.