As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 13 of 182

As-Saffat 37:13

وَإِذَا ذُكِّرُوا۟ لَا يَذْكُرُونَ

“And when they are reminded, they remember not.”

Saheeh International

Essence

A reminder can be given to anyone; remembering can only be done by the one reminded, and these deniers made a habit of refusing.

A reflection

The thread round the finger

The first hearers had a small, homely picture for dhikr. A man would tie a thread round his finger so as not to forget a need. That was istadhkara, and the thing you remember by was a tadhkira. The lexicons say dhikr lives in two places: the heart, where a thing is kept present, and the tongue, where it is spoken.

Now look at the two verbs in this ayah. Dhukkirū: they were reminded. It is passive, and in an intensive form: someone took trouble to remind them. Then lā yadhkurūn: they do not remember. The reminding was done to them. The remembering was theirs to do, and they did not.

Think of a teacher who writes the homework on the board every single day, in large letters, before the bell. Every day the same few pupils copy it into their planners. Every day the same few do not. The information reached every eye in the room. Only some let it reach their hands.

That is the gap this ayah describes. Nobody can tie the thread round your finger for your heart. They can only tie it round your finger. One early commentator says they were reminded of Allah's proofs so that they would reflect and turn back to obedience, and they did not benefit. Another says: they neither benefited nor saw.

The Quran calls itself dhikr again and again. A reminder is not new information. It is something you already knew in some way, brought back to the front. That is why refusing it is so strange. They were not being told something foreign. They were being handed back something of their own, and they put it down.

When you next read a familiar ayah, ask whether you are copying it into your planner, or only looking at the board.

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.