Ghafir · Makki · ayah 85 of 85

Ghafir 40:85

فَلَمْ يَكُ يَنفَعُهُمْ إِيمَـٰنُهُمْ لَمَّا رَأَوْا۟ بَأْسَنَا ۖ سُنَّتَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّتِى قَدْ خَلَتْ فِى عِبَادِهِۦ ۖ وَخَسِرَ هُنَالِكَ ٱلْكَـٰفِرُونَ

“But never did their faith benefit them once they saw Our punishment. [It is] the established way of Allāh which has preceded among His servants. And the disbelievers thereupon lost [all].”

Saheeh International

Essence

Faith forced by the sight of punishment did not help them; that is Allah's settled way with His servants, and there the disbelievers lost.

A reflection

A way that does not bend

Sunnata allāhi allatī qad khalat fī ʿibādih. The way of Allah that has passed among His servants.

The word sunna has a picture in the lexicons. Water poured over a face, running in one course. That course becomes the word for a way: a path walked, a pattern set running. Sunnat Allāh is His settled way with people. This is established.

The commentaries explain what this particular way is. A concise commentary: that faith does not benefit people at the time the punishment comes down. A modern commentary: His way in all the nations, that faith does not benefit them once they see the punishment.

The Quran says of Allah's way elsewhere: you will never find any change in it, and never find any turning in it (35:43).

That is majesty of a particular kind: consistency. Allah's ways do not bend for the powerful, the clever or the famous. Pharaoh was not an exception. The great nations before were not exceptions. No one is.

That is humbling for the ego, which usually assumes it will be the exception. Rules are for others. I will be different. I will have more time. The ayah says: there is a way that has already run its course through every people before you. It will run through you too.

Two students miss the deadline for a national exam registration. One is the son of a well-known footballer; the other is the daughter of a school cleaner. Both are refused. The footballer's agent rings twice. The answer does not change.

Is this a rigid God? The opposite. A way that does not change is a way that can be known and prepared for. Allah told us His way in advance, through every messenger. Consistency is what makes His warnings trustworthy, and His promises too.

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.