Sad · Makki · ayah 78 of 88

Sad 38:78

وَإِنَّ عَلَيْكَ لَعْنَتِىٓ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ

“And indeed, upon you is My curse until the Day of Recompense."”

Saheeh International

Essence

The sentence goes beyond expulsion: My curse, a distance from mercy, rests on him until the Day when every dealing is repaid.

A reflection

A curse is a distance, not a spell

In one bad year a man's van breaks down twice, his shop floods and his daughter's wedding is postponed. On the phone to his brother he says it plainly: someone has put a curse on us. That evening he starts searching for people who claim they can lift one.

Many people carry that picture of a curse. It is a spell or a hex, something cast on a family that clings until someone removes it. The Quran's word here is laʿna, and its picture is quite different. One lexicon gives the root a single sense: driving away and keeping far off. The wolf was called laʿīn, the one chased from the camp. So was a man cast out by his people. From Allah, another lexicon adds, it means being cut off from His mercy and His help.

So laʿnatī, My curse, is not magic. It is distance. And the distance followed a deed. Iblīs walked away first, refusing a command and arguing his rank. The curse sealed him in the place he had already chosen.

That changes how we hear hardship. A broken van and a flooded shop are not a laʿna. They are trials, and believers are told to expect them: We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and loss (2:155). A trial can even bring a person nearer, if he turns to Allah through it. The Quranic curse is the opposite of nearness. It is not something a stranger can throw at you from across a town.

If you fear harm from people, the Quran closes with two short surahs of refuge (113, 114). Say them, and leave the rest with the One you are seeking refuge in. He is near, and answers the one who calls (2:186).

The man on the phone does not need someone to lift a curse. He needs to lift his hands. The only distance that matters is closed from his side, by turning back to Allah.

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.