Al-'Ankabut · Makki · ayah 31 of 69

Al-'Ankabut 29:31

وَلَمَّا جَآءَتْ رُسُلُنَآ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ بِٱلْبُشْرَىٰ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا مُهْلِكُوٓا۟ أَهْلِ هَـٰذِهِ ٱلْقَرْيَةِ ۖ إِنَّ أَهْلَهَا كَانُوا۟ ظَـٰلِمِينَ

“And when Our messengers [i.e., angels] came to Abraham with the good tidings,[1131] they said, "Indeed, we will destroy the people of that [i.e., Lot's] city. Indeed, its people have been wrongdoers."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah's envoys bring Ibrahim news of a son, and in the same visit news of a town about to end because its people did wrong.

A reflection

The saplings were bought before the felling began

The envoys bring two pieces of news in one visit. First, al-bushrā: Ibrahim and his wife will have a son, Ishaq, and after him a grandson, Yaʿqub. Then, in the same conversation, a sentence on a town. 'We are going to destroy the people of this town.'

It can feel jarring. Why should joy and ruin share one doorway?

One commentary sees a deliberate kindness in the pairing. A town was about to be emptied of people, Ibrahim's fellow human beings. So before a word about it, Allah told Ibrahim the earth would be filled again, with righteous servants from his own line. He would not be left grieving over an emptied land.

The same commentary notes the order. The good news comes first and the warning after, because His mercy runs ahead of His anger. That matches what the Prophet ﷺ reported from his Lord, in both Sahihs. 'My mercy has outstripped My anger.'

Picture a forestry ranger in late autumn. She walks a wood marking ash trees with orange paint. They are diseased and must come down before they fall across the footpath. It is a sad job; some of these trees are older than the village. But on the back of her truck sits a crate of oak saplings, already paid for. The felling and the planting are one plan.

Allah's endings are never the whole story. Even the end of a town arrives wrapped in a promise of new life somewhere else.

This changes how a believer can read a season of loss. When something in your life is being cleared away, look for the sapling. Ask what Allah is planting, perhaps somewhere you have not yet thought to look. The news of Ishaq did not cancel the news about the town. It surrounded it with mercy.

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.