Fussilat · Makki · ayah 25 of 54

Fussilat 41:25

۞ وَقَيَّضْنَا لَهُمْ قُرَنَآءَ فَزَيَّنُوا۟ لَهُم مَّا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَحَقَّ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْقَوْلُ فِىٓ أُمَمٍ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّنَ ٱلْجِنِّ وَٱلْإِنسِ ۖ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ خَـٰسِرِينَ

“And We appointed for them companions[1390] who made attractive to them what was before them and what was behind them [of sin], and the word [i.e., decree] has come into effect upon them among nations which had passed on before them of jinn and men. Indeed, they [all] were losers.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Companions were assigned to them who dressed up both their past and their future, until a bad bargain looked like a good life.

A reflection

Companions that arrive unbidden

Qayyaḍnā: We assigned. The lexicons give the root an unusual picture. The qayḍ was the dry upper shell of an egg, the shell the chick splits to emerge. And qayyaḍa is to bring someone to another and assign him there, unforeseen. The companions in this ayah were not chosen in a single moment. They arrived.

A fair question follows. If Allah assigned these corrupting companions, how can people be blamed? One commentary answers by linking another ayah that gives the mechanism. Whoever turns away from the remembrance of the Most Merciful, We assign him a devil, who becomes his companion (43:36). The assignment follows a turning away. And, the next ayah adds, they think they are rightly guided (43:37).

Picture a young man who, out of boredom, watches a few furious videos one evening. By the end of the week his feed is full of angrier ones. Within a month, the voices that fill his evenings are people he never chose and would not invite into his home. They arrived, one after another, because of what he kept turning towards.

That is the shape of qayyaḍa. Companions arrive to match the direction of the heart.

The hopeful side is that the direction can change. Turn towards remembrance, and different companions are assigned: the angels who say "we are your allies" (41:31), and people who help you remember.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.