An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 61 of 176

An-Nisa 4:61

وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا۟ إِلَىٰ مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ وَإِلَى ٱلرَّسُولِ رَأَيْتَ ٱلْمُنَـٰفِقِينَ يَصُدُّونَ عَنكَ صُدُودًا

“And when it is said to them, "Come to what Allāh has revealed and to the Messenger," you see the hypocrites turning away from you in aversion.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The invitation says 'come up' to what Allah sent down; the hypocrite's answer is not an argument but a turning away.

A reflection

An invitation that means 'come up'

On a warm night at a wedding, the younger cousins find the stairs to the roof. From the top they call down to the car park: come up, you can see the whole city. One of the men below waves, and stays by his car scrolling his phone.

The ayah uses the ordinary word for 'come': taʿālaw. But the lexicons say its root has one meaning only, and that meaning is height. Al-ʿalyāʾ is the summit of a mountain. Taʿāla first meant come up to me, said by someone standing higher. Then it softened into a plain 'come', until even a man in a valley said it to someone above him. A classical commentary on this ayah keeps the first sense: a request to come towards a high place.

Hear the ayah with that picture in mind. The invitation is not 'come over here and be judged'. It is 'come up': to what Allah sent down, and to the Messenger. Notice the two directions inside one sentence. Revelation was sent down, anzala, so that people could be called up.

That changes what refusing means. The men in this ayah did not refuse a burden. They refused a height. They preferred the level ground of a judge who could be paid, to the climb towards a verdict that would raise them.

Most of Allah's commands look like a staircase from the bottom. Honesty in a dispute, patience in a loss, fairness to a rival: each costs a step. The ayah reminds you who is standing at the top, calling. It also hints at what the view is like from there.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.