Al-Ahzab · Madani · ayah 24 of 73

Al-Ahzab 33:24

لِّيَجْزِىَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ بِصِدْقِهِمْ وَيُعَذِّبَ ٱلْمُنَـٰفِقِينَ إِن شَآءَ أَوْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا

“That Allāh may reward the truthful for their truth and punish the hypocrites if He wills or accept their repentance. Indeed, Allāh is ever Forgiving and Merciful.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The siege sorted people so that Allah might reward the truthful for their truth, and leave the hypocrites' end to His open will.

A reflection

The verdict stays in His hand

Look at what the ayah does with the hypocrites. For several ayat the surah has exposed them: their excuses, their sneers, their quiet slipping away. Now, where we expect the sentence, it says: and punish the hypocrites, if He wills, or turn to them in mercy. Then it closes: Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.

We were ready for a verdict. Allah kept it.

That is a blow to the ego, and it is meant to be. Believers who have just survived a siege might feel entitled to settle accounts. These men deserted. They mocked the promise. Surely we can now say where they will end. The ayah says no. Their end belongs to Allah's will, and His will includes turning to them. One commentator notes that the door was left open because the Prophet ﷺ had not yet despaired of their faith. Some of them, he adds, did later believe.

Picture a family group chat after a wedding. A cousin who has drunk, gambled and borrowed from half the family is discussed for an hour. 'Lost cause,' someone writes, and twenty people react with a thumbs-up. Eight years later, that cousin is the one at the mosque at dawn, gently washing his uncle's body for burial. Nobody in that chat had the right to close his file.

Here is the majesty of it. The One who sees every heart, who watched every hypocrite's excuse, is the One who refuses to slam the door. Arrogance rushes to condemn. The All-Powerful holds back and names Himself Forgiving.

Does He need us to admire that restraint? No. It is not a performance staged for an audience. It is simply what He is: kāna, ever, forgiving and merciful, long before any of us noticed.

Our part is humbler. Pronounce no final verdict on anyone who still breathes. Pray for them instead. That is the only judgement this ayah leaves in our hands.

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.