Ash-Shuraa · Makki · ayah 18 of 53

Ash-Shuraa 42:18

يَسْتَعْجِلُ بِهَا ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهَا ۖ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مُشْفِقُونَ مِنْهَا وَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهَا ٱلْحَقُّ ۗ أَلَآ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يُمَارُونَ فِى ٱلسَّاعَةِ لَفِى ضَلَـٰلٍۭ بَعِيدٍ

“Those who do not believe in it are impatient for it,[1418] but those who believe are fearful of it and know that it is the truth. Unquestionably, those who dispute concerning the Hour are in extreme error.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those who deny the Hour mockingly demand it now; believers hold it with a fearful care, because they know it is real.

A reflection

"Bring it on" versus checking every file

The ayah sets two attitudes side by side. Those who do not believe in the Hour seek to hasten it. Those who believe are mushfiqūn from it, and know it is the truth.

The commentaries explain the hastening. It was mockery. When is it, then? If only it would come, so we could see who is right. One adds a second motive: to give weaker listeners the impression that it would never come.

The believers' word is richer. The root of ishfāq means thinness. The shafaq is the thin red afterglow after sunset. Ishfāq is a heart made thin: care mixed with fear, as a mother frets over her child. One commentator adds a fine point of grammar. When the verb takes min, as here, the fear is uppermost. When it takes ʿalā, the care is uppermost. Either way, both are present.

Picture two managers in the same company when an external audit is announced. One laughs. "Bring it on. They'll find nothing." He changes nothing. The other quietly spends her evenings going through every file in her department. She is not panicking. She simply cares about getting it right, and she knows the auditors are real.

The ayah holds up both as mirrors. Hastening is not courage. It is a way of refusing to take something seriously. The demand to see it now is often a way of not preparing for it at all.

Apprehension, in the believer's sense, is not paralysis either. It is attention. It is the heart made thin enough to feel what matters.

Which of the two is closer to how you think about the Hour? Most of us do not mock it openly. But we may live as if it were a joke someone told once. The believers in this ayah show the alternative. Know that it is real. Let that knowledge make you careful, and keep caring.

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.