As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 25 of 182

As-Saffat 37:25

مَا لَكُمْ لَا تَنَاصَرُونَ

“[They will be asked], "What is [wrong] with you? Why do you not help each other?"”

Saheeh International

Essence

The first question at the halt is not about belief at all: where is the alliance you were so sure of?

A reflection

The alliance that worked everywhere except here

For years, five construction firms took turns winning public contracts. They agreed the prices in advance and let each other win in rotation. It worked beautifully, until the inquiry. Within a week, every firm had hired its own lawyers and was naming the other four.

The question in this ayah lands on exactly that moment. The wrongdoers have been gathered and halted. Then they are asked: mā lakum lā tanāṣarūn? What is wrong with you, that you do not help one another?

The commentaries hear in it an echo of a real boast. They report that at Badr, the leader of the Makkan army said: we are a united host, bound to win. The Quran recorded the slogan: or do they say, we are a gathering that will prevail (54:44)? On that Day, the slogan is read back to them as a question.

There is a strategic lesson here for anyone building an alliance. Ask what holds it together. These people were bound by shared interest: shared idols, shared power, shared enemies. Interest is a strong glue while there is something to gain. It dissolves the moment there is something to lose. One commentary describes them on that Day as each handing the other over to ruin.

Alliances built on a principle behave differently. They hold when holding is expensive.

So before you join a partnership, a faction or a friendship circle, ask one question. What would this group do if loyalty to me cost them something? If the honest answer is that they would scatter, you have learned what kind of help it was always going to be.

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.