Fussilat · Makki · ayah 48 of 54

Fussilat 41:48

وَضَلَّ عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا۟ يَدْعُونَ مِن قَبْلُ ۖ وَظَنُّوا۟ مَا لَهُم مِّن مَّحِيصٍ

“And lost from them will be those they were invoking before, and they will be certain that they have no place of escape.”

Saheeh International

Essence

On that Day all they called on is lost like milk in water, and they know there is nowhere left to swerve.

A reflection

Milk lost in water

The ayah says that what they used to call on before has gone astray from them. The verb is ḍalla, and the lexicons give it a picture from every kitchen. People said ḍalla al-laban fī al-māʾ: the milk was lost in the water. They said it the other way round too, of water lost in milk. Either way, one is swallowed up in the other and can no longer be found. These are established senses. The root also covers a traveller who can find no road at all, and a camel that has wandered off with its baggage.

A narration-based commentary describes what happens to the false gods on the Day. They took a road other than their worshippers' road. They brought no benefit and turned away no part of the punishment. Another commentator gives two readings. Either the partners are literally absent, nowhere to be found, or they are present but useless, which amounts to the same thing.

Picture a man who has put his savings into an investment scheme run by a friend of a friend. For two years the statements look wonderful. He tells his brothers about it, and some of them invest too. Then, one Monday, the website does not load. The phone number rings out. The office address is a serviced building with a different name on the door. The money has not been stolen in any dramatic way. It has simply dissolved, like milk in water.

That is the shape of what the ayah describes. The things people relied on instead of Allah do not usually betray them with a bang. They simply cannot be found when they are needed.

The reader is invited to test their own supports now. Is there anything you rely on that would dissolve, rather than stand, on the day you most need it?

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.