Fussilat · Makki · ayah 24 of 54

Fussilat 41:24

فَإِن يَصْبِرُوا۟ فَٱلنَّارُ مَثْوًى لَّهُمْ ۖ وَإِن يَسْتَعْتِبُوا۟ فَمَا هُم مِّنَ ٱلْمُعْتَبِينَ

“So [even] if they are patient, the Fire is a residence for them; and if they ask to appease [Allāh], they will not be of those who are allowed to appease.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Patience that comes too late changes nothing, and the doorstep of reconciliation, open all their lives, is closed to them on that Day.

A reflection

The doorstep that closes

Yastaʿtibū. The root has an image the first hearers stepped over every day. The ʿataba is the doorstep, raised above the level of the ground. From that rough edge, the lexicons say, came ʿatb: the grievance one friend feels against another. To aʿtaba was to remove the cause of that grievance and return to the friend's good pleasure. To istaʿtaba was to seek that chance.

So the word carries a whole relationship in it. Two people, a hurt between them, and a doorstep to cross. Someone knocks, apologises, puts things right, and is welcomed back.

The ayah says: if they seek that, they will not be among those granted it. One commentary explains that they will offer excuses and none will be accepted. One early commentator reads it as asking to be returned to the world, and receiving no answer.

Picture a woman standing on her sister's doorstep after five years of silence. She holds a cake tin. Her finger hovers over the bell. Inside, she can hear the radio. She could still turn round and drive away, as she has twice before. Or she could press it. In this life, the doorstep is there to be crossed, and a door opens.

That is the terrible contrast the ayah draws. The very act the root describes, seeking to put things right and be welcomed back, is available every day of this life. With people, it is often available. With Allah, it is always available while we live. On that Day, the doorstep is there, and the door does not open.

So the word is really a call to the present. Whatever stands between you and your Lord, cross it now. Whatever stands between you and someone you have wronged, knock today. The doorstep will not always be there.

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.