As-Sajdah · Makki · ayah 30 of 30

As-Sajdah 32:30

فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ وَٱنتَظِرْ إِنَّهُم مُّنتَظِرُونَ

“So turn away from them and wait. Indeed, they are waiting.”

Saheeh International

Essence

With the case made, the Prophet ﷺ is told to turn from mockery and wait; both sides wait, but only one waits on a promise.

A reflection

Turning away is not giving up

'So turn away from them.' Heard quickly, the surah's last ayah can sound like a door slammed. Cut them off. Ignore them. Give up on people who will not listen. Some readers even take it as permission for contempt.

The commentaries read it very differently, and they converge. Turn away from their foolishness, says one, and do not answer them except as you have been commanded. Do not let their denial and mockery weigh on you, say others. Turn away from debating them, adds another, because the debate has stopped doing any good. And one places it precisely: turn away after you have conveyed the proof.

So the Prophet ﷺ is not told to stop delivering the message. He went on reciting this surah, and many others, for years. He is told to stop being drawn into the sneering. One commentator links it to another ayah with the same pairing. 'Follow what is revealed to you from your Lord … and turn away from the polytheists' (6:106). The turning is away from them; the following is towards the revelation.

A hospital consultant is explaining a treatment plan to a family. One relative keeps interrupting: the doctors are lying, the tests are rigged, he read otherwise online. She answers him once, carefully. When he interrupts a third time, she turns her chair slightly towards the patient and goes on explaining to her. She has not abandoned anyone. She has simply stopped letting the loudest voice steer the room.

The root of aʿriḍ pictures exactly that movement. ʿArḍ is breadth, the side of a thing: to turn away is to show someone your side. It is a change of direction, not an act of war.

That is the truer picture. Turning away, here, is discipline. It protects the message from being dragged through the mud, and the messenger from being consumed by people who have decided not to hear.

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.