Al-Qasas · Makki · ayah 67 of 88

Al-Qasas 28:67

فَأَمَّا مَن تَابَ وَءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَـٰلِحًا فَعَسَىٰٓ أَن يَكُونَ مِنَ ٱلْمُفْلِحِينَ

“But as for one who had repented, believed, and done righteousness, it is expected [i.e., promised by Allāh] that he will be among the successful.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Amid silenced excuses a door opens: whoever turns back, believes and does good holds a Generous Lord's 'perhaps', which is a promise.

A reflection

The exit shown while the pens are still moving

The ayat before this one are hard to sit through. On the Day of Judgement the deniers are asked where their partners are. Those they followed disown them. They are asked how they answered the messengers. Every excuse goes dark for them, and they cannot even ask one another (28:66).

Then, without warning, a different sentence begins. Fa-ammā man tāba: but as for whoever turned back. One classical commentator explains the placing. Having shown the end of those who held on to denial, the Quran names the one who repents. It does so to make repentance desirable and staying put unbearable. Another reads it as a direct urging to those very people to let go.

Picture an exam hall in its final minutes. The paper is hard and the clock is loud. Yet until the invigilator says pens down, any candidate may still go back to any question. Nothing written so far is fixed.

That is where the reader of this ayah stands. One commentator notes that the repenting meant here happens in this world. The scene of silence is described in advance, so that it need not be lived. The Day is shown while the pens are still moving.

So the order of the passage is itself a mercy. First comes the warning, vivid enough to frighten. Then, in the same breath, comes the way out. A Lord who only wished to condemn would not interrupt His description of that Day to point at the door.

If you read the last few ayat with a sinking feeling, that feeling has done its work. It was meant to carry you to this line, and through it.

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.