Az-Zumar · Makki · ayah 24 of 75

Az-Zumar 39:24

أَفَمَن يَتَّقِى بِوَجْهِهِۦ سُوٓءَ ٱلْعَذَابِ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ ۚ وَقِيلَ لِلظَّـٰلِمِينَ ذُوقُوا۟ مَا كُنتُمْ تَكْسِبُونَ

“Then is he who will shield with his face[1348] the worst of the punishment on the Day of Resurrection [like one secure from it]? And it will be said to the wrongdoers, "Taste what you used to earn."”

Saheeh International

Essence

He who would not shield himself with mindfulness here is left to shield himself with his face, and is told to taste what he earned.

A reflection

The shield he refused

The verb in this ayah is yattaqī: he shields himself. It is the same root as taqwā. The lexicons give that root one picture: pushing harm away from a thing by putting something between them. One commentary explains the usage here: ittaqāhu bi-daraqatihi, he met the blow with his leather shield and so protected himself from it.

Read the ayah with that in mind and its irony is devastating. Throughout this surah, people have been called to taqwā: to place a shield of mindfulness between themselves and the Fire. 'O My servants, be mindful of Me' (39:16). 'Those who were mindful of their Lord' (39:20). The man in this ayah refused that shield. So on the Day he does taqwā after all, with the only thing left to him: his face.

One commentary spells out why the face. A person who meets something frightening raises his hand to protect his face, because the face is dearest to him. But the one cast into the Fire has his hands bound to his neck. He can only meet it with the face he used to shield with everything else.

Picture a builder who has refused, for years, to wear a hard hat on site. It looks soft, he says, and it is hot. One day a scaffold pole slips from two floors above. In the half-second before it lands he throws his head sideways, the only movement left to him.

The ayah is not cruel for its own sake. It is the clearest warning the language could give. Every person will shield themselves with something. The only question is whether it is mindfulness of their Lord now, or their own face then.

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.