Al-'Ankabut · Makki · ayah 23 of 69

Al-'Ankabut 29:23

وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ وَلِقَآئِهِۦٓ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ يَئِسُوا۟ مِن رَّحْمَتِى وَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

“And the ones who disbelieve in the signs of Allāh and the meeting with Him - those have despaired of My mercy, and they will have a painful punishment.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Whoever denies Allah's signs and the meeting with Him has cut himself off from the very mercy he most needs.

A reflection

Nobody calls a number they think is dead

Picture a hiker stranded on a ridge as the light fails. He has a handheld radio, but the screen cracked in his fall. He decides it must be broken. So he never presses the button to speak. Twenty miles away, a ranger sits by a receiver all night, listening on that very channel.

The radio was never the problem. His belief about it was.

This ayah describes something similar. Those who deny Allah's signs and the meeting with Him, it says, have despaired of His mercy. One classical commentator explains the link. Denying the meeting means believing no one is at the other end. If there is no return to Him, there is nothing to hope for.

He adds a subtler point about the first denial. Mercy, he says, settles on the one who has a single direction for his need. When a person spreads his need across many gods, he leaves no place for mercy to land. He has not one door to knock on, but many, and none of them answers.

Another commentator describes the inner state that follows. A believer lives between hope and awe. The denier swings between two other things: complacency and despair. When he thinks of danger, there is no hope to balance it. When he thinks of good, there is no fear to steady it. Either way, he is alone.

That is the real tragedy the ayah names. Not that mercy ran out. That a person decided no one was listening, and so never spoke.

If you feel far from faith right now, notice the ayah's quiet invitation. The channel is open. The One who listens has not left His post. All that is needed is to press the button and say something, however broken it sounds.

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.