As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 175 of 182

As-Saffat 37:175

وَأَبْصِرْهُمْ فَسَوْفَ يُبْصِرُونَ

“And see [what will befall] them, for they are going to see.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Look at the outcome as if it stood before you; they will see it too, when seeing comes too late to help.

A reflection

Seeing the finished building

Wa abṣirhum: and see them, or watch them. The odd thing is that what the Prophet ﷺ is told to look at has not happened yet. The punishment of the mockers was still in the future. How can he be told to see it?

Two classical commentators answer in almost the same words. The command to look at a promised future, they say, shows that it is certain and that it is near. It is as though it were already in front of your eyes. One of them adds that this was a consolation for the Prophet ﷺ and a relief for his heart.

Picture an architect meeting a young couple in her studio. The site of their future house is still a muddy field with a fence round it. She turns her screen towards them and starts the walkthrough. The front door opens. They move through a hallway, into a kitchen with light falling across a table, up the stairs to a child's room under the eaves. The couple fall silent. They have just seen a house that does not exist yet, so clearly they could almost touch the banister.

That is what abṣirhum asks of the Prophet ﷺ and, through him, of believers. Look at the outcome Allah has promised as clearly as if it were built. Not as a vague hope, but as a finished structure you can walk through.

This changes how present difficulty feels. The couple go home to their cramped flat that evening, but they are different people. They have seen the house. The cramped flat is now a temporary place on the way there.

The Makkan mockery, the Prophet's isolation, the long years: these were the muddy field. The command to see was the walkthrough.

When your own situation feels like mud and fencing, ask Allah to show you the walkthrough. Read what He has promised the patient, slowly, as if you were standing inside it.

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.