An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 77 of 176

An-Nisa 4:77

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ قِيلَ لَهُمْ كُفُّوٓا۟ أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَقِيمُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتُوا۟ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ فَلَمَّا كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْقِتَالُ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَخْشَوْنَ ٱلنَّاسَ كَخَشْيَةِ ٱللَّهِ أَوْ أَشَدَّ خَشْيَةً ۚ وَقَالُوا۟ رَبَّنَا لِمَ كَتَبْتَ عَلَيْنَا ٱلْقِتَالَ لَوْلَآ أَخَّرْتَنَآ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ ۗ قُلْ مَتَـٰعُ ٱلدُّنْيَا قَلِيلٌ وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لِّمَنِ ٱتَّقَىٰ وَلَا تُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلًا

“Have you not seen those who were told, "Restrain your hands [from fighting][199] and establish prayer and give zakāh"? But then when battle was ordained for them, at once a party of them feared men as they fear Allāh or with [even] greater fear. They said, "Our Lord, why have You decreed upon us fighting? If only You had postponed [it for] us for a short time." Say, "The enjoyment of this world is little, and the Hereafter is better for he who fears Allāh. And injustice will not be done to you, [even] as much as a thread [inside a date seed]."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Some who asked for a hard duty feared it when it came; the reply: this world is a brief morning, and nothing done is lost.

A reflection

Asking for the hard thing, then dreading it

This ayah captures one of the most human patterns there is. We ask for something hard. Then it arrives, and we are afraid of it.

Commentators describe the setting. In Makkah, some believers were persecuted and humiliated. They came to the Prophet ﷺ asking permission to fight back. They were told to restrain their hands, to pray and to give. A narration in Sunan al-Nasāʾī, with a chain graded ṣaḥīḥ, records his reply: I have been commanded to pardon. Years later, in Madinah, the command they had longed for came. And a group among them shrank from it.

One classical commentator is careful about why. It was not doubt in their faith, he says, nor dislike of it. It was a recoil from risking their lives, and fear of death. Another notes that this fear is set deep in human nature. Another says it came from what humans are made of, not from defiance.

And listen to their request. Lawlā akhkhartanā ilā ajalin qarīb: if only You had held it back a little longer. Not never. Just not yet.

Picture a couple who have prayed for a child for seven years. One morning the test is positive. They cry and hold each other in the bathroom. An hour later the husband sits in his car outside work, unable to go in. His hands are shaking. Can I do this? Am I ready? Could we not have had one more year?

The ayah does not mock that fear. It records it, and answers it gently in the lines that follow.

What have you asked Allah for that you would now, honestly, rather postpone? The fear is human. The answer is to walk towards what you asked for anyway.

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.