As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 135 of 182

As-Saffat 37:135

إِلَّا عَجُوزًا فِى ٱلْغَـٰبِرِينَ

“Except an old woman [i.e., his wife] among those who remained [with the evildoers].”

Saheeh International

Essence

One person in Lut's household stayed behind like dust after the riders have gone: an old woman who had grown old in what she chose.

A reflection

Dust that hangs after the riders leave

Al-ghābirīn comes from a root with an established, haunting picture. A ghābir is one who stays on after the others have gone. A ghubr was the last milk left in the udder, or the last part of the night. And ghubār is dust, the dull cloud that hangs in the air after the runners have passed.

A linguistic commentary records that an early authority explained the word with a line from a pre-Islamic poet. They left, and I was left among them, as if a stranger among those who stayed.

The commentators read al-ghābirīn in more than one way. A concise commentary says: those who remained in the punishment. A narration-based commentary mentions another view: she was among those who remained because long years had passed over her. A linguistic commentary adds that she was one whose staying behind had already been decreed.

All the senses meet in one image. Lut's household moved out under the night. One figure did not move with them, in heart if not in body, and remained in the town's dust after the rest had gone.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.