As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 148 of 182

As-Saffat 37:148

فَـَٔامَنُوا۟ فَمَتَّعْنَـٰهُمْ إِلَىٰ حِينٍ

“And they believed, so We gave them enjoyment [of life] for a time.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Of all the peoples in this surah's stories, only Yunus's ends in hope: they believed, and We let them enjoy life for a while.

A reflection

The only story here that ends with a city turning

Read the endings of the peoples in As-Saffat side by side. Nuh's story: thumma aghraqnā al-ākharīn, then We drowned the others (37:82). Ilyas's people denied him, fa-innahum la-muḥḍarūn, so they will be brought to account (37:127). Lut's story: thumma dammarnā al-ākharīn, then We destroyed the others (37:136).

And Yunus's: fa-āmanū, so they believed.

In a surah of judgements, the last story ends with a whole city turning. And this is the people of the man who ran. A theological commentary notes that his story is the sixth and last in the surah. It closes the series not with ruins but with a population alive and believing.

The Quran confirms how rare this was. If only there had been a town that believed and was benefited by its faith, other than the people of Yunus (10:98). Of all the towns warned before the punishment fell, theirs is the one named as turning in time.

Think of a youth worker who has kept, for twenty years, a mental list of the teenagers everyone else gave up on. Most of them she never hears from again. Then one Friday a man in his thirties stops her outside the mosque. He introduces his son. 'You were the only one who kept coming to see me', he says. One name on the list has turned.

That is the hope of this ayah. No people is beyond turning while Allah keeps the door open. The ones who seemed most likely to be destroyed, whose warner had even given up on them, turned with their whole city.

If you have someone you have stopped praying for, this ayah gently suggests you start again.

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.