Az-Zumar · Makki · ayah 8 of 75

Az-Zumar 39:8

۞ وَإِذَا مَسَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ ضُرٌّ دَعَا رَبَّهُۥ مُنِيبًا إِلَيْهِ ثُمَّ إِذَا خَوَّلَهُۥ نِعْمَةً مِّنْهُ نَسِىَ مَا كَانَ يَدْعُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِ مِن قَبْلُ وَجَعَلَ لِلَّهِ أَندَادًا لِّيُضِلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦ ۚ قُلْ تَمَتَّعْ بِكُفْرِكَ قَلِيلًا ۖ إِنَّكَ مِنْ أَصْحَـٰبِ ٱلنَّارِ

“And when adversity touches man, he calls upon his Lord, turning to Him [alone]; then when He bestows on him a favor from Himself, he forgets Him whom he called upon before,[1344] and he attributes to Allāh equals to mislead [people] from His way. Say, "Enjoy your disbelief for a little; indeed, you are of the companions of the Fire."”

Saheeh International

Essence

In trouble we call on Him alone; once He lifts it and gives us plenty, we walk off and hand the credit to others.

A reflection

The One you call when the plane drops

Picture a long-haul flight hitting severe turbulence over the ocean. The cabin drops, rises, drops again. Overhead lockers spring open. In the silence between jolts, a businessman in an aisle seat finds his lips moving in a prayer he has not said since childhood. Half the cabin is doing the same. Nobody prays to the airline.

The ayah describes that moment exactly. When harm touches a person, he calls on his Lord, turning to Him. One commentary draws out what the moment proves. In crisis, they turned to no one but Allah, because they knew He alone could bring good and remove harm. And what they knew in that moment remained true afterwards.

That is the contradiction the ayah exposes. The power that rescued you at thirty-five thousand feet does not shrink once the wheels touch the runway. Yet the passengers clap the pilot, collect their bags, and the prayer is gone before passport control.

The ego works this way. Under pressure, it knows its size. Once safe, it swells again, and starts telling the story as if it had held the plane up. One commentary links the word for 'bestowed', khawwala, to a sense of strutting: the rich man walks with a long trailing hem, swaying.

Is it vanity for Allah to point this out? No. He loses nothing when we forget Him. He describes it for the same reason a friend points out a pattern you cannot see in yourself. The person who remembers the crisis after the crisis is safer, humbler and more honest. That person is the one the ayah hopes to make.

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.