Fatir · Makki · ayah 37 of 45

Fatir 35:37

وَهُمْ يَصْطَرِخُونَ فِيهَا رَبَّنَآ أَخْرِجْنَا نَعْمَلْ صَـٰلِحًا غَيْرَ ٱلَّذِى كُنَّا نَعْمَلُ ۚ أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُم مَّا يَتَذَكَّرُ فِيهِ مَن تَذَكَّرَ وَجَآءَكُمُ ٱلنَّذِيرُ ۖ فَذُوقُوا۟ فَمَا لِلظَّـٰلِمِينَ مِن نَّصِيرٍ

“And they will cry out therein, "Our Lord, remove us;[1253] we will do righteousness - other than what we were doing!" But did We not grant you life enough for whoever would remember therein to remember, and the warner had come to you? So taste [the punishment], for there is not for the wrongdoers any helper.”

Saheeh International

Essence

They scream for one more chance, but the chance was the life already given: years enough to remember, and a warner who came.

A reflection

Every year was a shop lent to you rent-free

A town council has an empty shop on the high street. It lends it, rent-free, to a young baker for six months. Keys, electricity, a sign above the door. At the end, someone from the council comes round with the agreement. The question is not whether there was enough time. It is: what did you do with the shop?

A-wa-lam nuʿammirkum: did We not give you life? The verb comes from a root the lexicons tie to a house that is lived in, kept up, not left to fall down. ʿImāra is the opposite of ruin. One lexicon even describes a person's lifetime as the body being inhabited. So 'We gave you life' carries a picture: We let you live in this house of years.

The ego treats time as its own possession. My weekend. My evenings. My life. We spend it as if we had earned it, and resent anyone who asks for some of it. This ayah quietly corrects the deed of ownership. Every year was lent. The keys were handed over by Someone, and He will ask what was built.

Is that petty, a God reminding people of what He gave? Consider why the reminder comes. It comes at the very moment they claim they never had a fair chance. He does not need their years; they added nothing to Him. The reminder is the signed agreement laid on the table, so that no one can say the verdict was unjust.

And He did not lend only time. He also sent the one who tells you what the time is for: the warner. A house and a guide to living in it.

So walk round your house of years tonight. Which rooms are kept up? Which are you letting fall down? The lease has not yet run out.

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.