Ar-Rum · Makki · ayah 60 of 60

Ar-Rum 30:60

فَٱصْبِرْ إِنَّ وَعْدَ ٱللَّهِ حَقٌّ ۖ وَلَا يَسْتَخِفَّنَّكَ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُوقِنُونَ

“So be patient. Indeed, the promise of Allāh is truth. And let them not disquiet you who are not certain [in faith].”

Saheeh International

Essence

Ar-Rum ends with an order to hold steady: the promise is true, so let no one without certainty make you light enough to blow away.

A reflection

Light enough to be carried off

The surah's last command is a striking verb: lā yastakhiffannaka. The root kh-f-f is lightness, the opposite of weight. This form means to make someone light, or to find them light.

The lexicons describe it exactly. Grief or sudden delight could istakhaffa a man. It made him light, so that he flew up and could not stay in place. A ruler once told his companions not to slander his subjects in front of him, 'for it will not make me light'. He meant: it will not provoke me into rash anger. The commentators gloss the ayah the same way. Let them not unsettle you, stir you up, or carry you off from your position. Let them not push you into haste.

Picture a beach on a windy afternoon. One family has driven their parasol's pole deep into the wet sand. Another has just stood theirs up loosely. A gust comes in off the sea. The first parasol leans, shudders and stays. The second lifts clean out of the sand and cartwheels down the beach, scattering towels. The wind was the same for both. The difference was what held them down.

The ayah names the wind and the weight together. The wind is alladhīna lā yūqinūn, people without certainty. Such people are often restless themselves, and restlessness spreads. The weight is in the same ayah: inna waʿda Allāhi ḥaqq. A person who truly rests on that cannot easily be lifted.

So the question is not whether mockery, panic or provocation will blow. They will. The question is how deep your pole goes into the promise before the gust arrives.

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.