As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 56 of 182

As-Saffat 37:56

قَالَ تَٱللَّهِ إِن كِدتَّ لَتُرْدِينِ

“He will say, "By Allāh, you almost ruined me.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Looking at his old friend in the Fire, he swears by Allah to the narrowness of the margin: you almost had me over the edge.

A reflection

A fall with no way back up

A shepherd in the hills knows the old wells better than the paths. They are hidden in the grass, their stone rims crumbled. A lamb that tumbles into one does not climb out. By the time anyone hears it, the fall is already the whole story.

That is the picture inside la-turdīni. The lexicons give the root of radā as throwing, and then as falling. Taraddā is to tumble into a well or off a mountain. An animal killed by such a fall is mutaraddiya, a word the Quran itself uses when listing animals found dead (5:3). From there the word comes to mean simply perishing. This is established in the lexicons.

So when the man says in kidta la-turdīni, he is not saying 'you almost caused me some trouble'. He is saying: you almost pushed me over the edge. The commentaries gloss it as 'you almost destroyed me', by turning me from faith in the resurrection, had I obeyed you.

The image explains why the stakes felt so high to him, even in the Garden. Some mistakes can be climbed out of. You fail, you learn, you go again. Others are falls. The companion's mockery was steering him towards a drop from which there is no climbing back: dying in denial.

We live in a culture that likes to say every mistake is a lesson. Many are. But the ayah keeps the older picture alive. There are edges. There are wells in the grass. Part of wisdom is knowing which ground is safe to stumble on, and which is not.

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.