Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 159 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:159

فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ لِنتَ لَهُمْ ۖ وَلَوْ كُنتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ ٱلْقَلْبِ لَٱنفَضُّوا۟ مِنْ حَوْلِكَ ۖ فَٱعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَٱسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ وَشَاوِرْهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَمْرِ ۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ

“So by mercy from Allāh, [O Muḥammad], you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude [in speech] and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allāh. Indeed, Allāh loves those who rely [upon Him].”

Saheeh International

Essence

It was mercy from Allah that made you gentle; pardon them, seek forgiveness for them, consult them, and once resolved, rely on Him.

A reflection

Consult the people who were wrong last time

A fell-running club's committee votes down its coach's route for a championship race. The alternative is chosen, and on the day it is a disaster: two injuries, a missed cut-off, the club's worst result in a decade. The following year he puts the route question to the same committee, first, before anybody can raise it.

That is the hardest sentence in this verse, and it is easy to read past.

These are the men who broke the line at Uhud. Some of them left a posted position. Many of them ran past the Prophet while he called them. And one commentary notes something that ought to stop a reader. He had consulted them before the battle. They advised going out, and he followed that advice. Then came the day.

The same commentary draws the conclusion. If he had stopped consulting them after that, it would have shown that something remained in his heart from the episode. So he was commanded to consult them precisely afterwards, to show that nothing did.

Anyone who has led anything knows that this is the one revenge available to a leader that costs nothing and can never be proved. You do not punish them. You do not raise it. You simply stop asking. The meetings get shorter and the decisions get made upstairs. Within a year the people who were wrong once have become the people who are not asked. That is a far heavier sentence than being told off.

The verse closes that door. Pardon them, ask forgiveness for them, and consult them. Three instructions in one line, and the third is the one that makes the first two credible.

Because a group can always tell the difference between being forgiven and being trusted, and only one of those is visible in the minutes.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.