An-Naml · Makki · ayah 92 of 93

An-Naml 27:92

وَأَنْ أَتْلُوَا۟ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ ۖ فَمَنِ ٱهْتَدَىٰ فَإِنَّمَا يَهْتَدِى لِنَفْسِهِۦ ۖ وَمَن ضَلَّ فَقُلْ إِنَّمَآ أَنَا۠ مِنَ ٱلْمُنذِرِينَ

“And to recite the Qur’ān." And whoever is guided is only guided for [the benefit of] himself; and whoever strays - say, "I am only [one] of the warners."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Recite the Quran and warn: whoever takes its guidance gains it for himself, and another's straying is not the warner's to carry.

A reflection

Recitation that walks behind

The verb atluwa, I recite, comes from a root the lexicons tie to following close behind. A young goat just weaned, trotting at its mother's heels, was called a tilw. Recitation is named from that picture: each verse follows the one before. And the reciter follows the words.

Two commentators note a double sense here. Atluwa may mean to recite the Quran to people. It may also mean to follow it, as in the command to follow what is revealed. One of them holds the first to be the plain meaning. Yet the root itself keeps both senses close together.

Picture a climber roped behind a guide on a snowfield. She steps exactly into his footprints. Where he lifts his boot, she sets hers. She is not admiring the prints or reading them aloud to others. She puts her weight where he put his, because he knows where the crevasses are.

That is recitation in its first image. The tongue follows the words, and then the feet follow where the words go. A recitation that never moves the feet is like reading a route card aloud at the bottom of the mountain.

It also explains where the command sits. The previous ayah commanded worship and submission. This one adds recitation, and only then turns to guidance: 'whoever is guided…'. The Quran is the track. Guidance is walking it.

When you recite next, slow down at one ayah that asks something of you. Treat it as a footprint in the snow ahead. Where does it want your weight to go today?

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.