As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 141 of 182

As-Saffat 37:141

فَسَاهَمَ فَكَانَ مِنَ ٱلْمُدْحَضِينَ

“And he drew lots[1302] and was among the losers.”

Saheeh International

Essence

On a stalled ship the lots were drawn, and the man who slipped from his post lost his footing again: that loss was his first step home.

A reflection

A foot going out from under you

Mudḥaḍ is usually translated 'among the losers'. The lexicons give it a far more physical picture, and the image is established.

The root means slipping and sliding away. The Arabs said a man's foot daḥaḍat when it slid out from under him on wet ground. A camel's foot slipped the same way. A narration-based commentary says the root's origin is slipping in water and mud. The sun was said to daḥaḍat when it slid past its highest point. And an argument daḥaḍat when it would not hold its ground.

Two commentaries make the image precise for this ayah. One calls the mudḥaḍ the one made to slip from the position of winning. Another says the word's root sense is one slid out of the place of victory. He was not merely beaten in a game. The ground of success went out from under him.

Now read the passage as a whole. Yunus left his post, a kind of slip. On the ship, he slips again, this time visibly, in front of everyone. The inner slip shows itself as an outer one. The Quran does not use a flat word for losing. It uses the word for a foot going.

Anyone who has walked on a wet harbour wall knows the moment. One second you are upright and sure, the next your body has gone before your mind catches up. You cannot argue with that kind of fall. You can only notice it and get up.

That is what makes this ayah humane. It does not say Yunus was condemned. It says he lost his footing. Footing can be found again, and the passage goes on to show exactly how. A slip is real, it can hurt, and it is also the most recoverable kind of fall there is.

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.