Ash-Shuraa · Makki · ayah 35 of 53

Ash-Shuraa 42:35

وَيَعْلَمَ ٱلَّذِينَ يُجَـٰدِلُونَ فِىٓ ءَايَـٰتِنَا مَا لَهُم مِّن مَّحِيصٍ

“And [that is so] those who dispute concerning Our signs may know that for them there is no place of escape.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those who twist arguments against His signs discover, when the storm comes, that there is no gap left to bolt through.

A reflection

No argument for the rocks

A well-known television debater has spent twenty years taking religion apart on air. He is quick, funny and rarely loses. One summer evening he is on a friend's yacht when the engine fails off a rocky coast. The wind pushes them steadily towards the cliffs. He finds his lips moving with a word he has mocked for two decades.

The ayah follows the passage on ships. It says the storm and the stilled wind serve a further purpose. Wa-yaʿlama alladhīna yujādilūna fī āyātinā mā lahum min maḥīṣ: and so that those who dispute about Our signs may know they have no escape.

One concise commentary describes the moment exactly. When the ships are destroyed by a raging wind, those who dispute Allah's signs to refute them know they have no way out. So they call on Allah alone and leave everything else. Another commentator says it becomes a cause of their admitting that the One who benefits and harms is Allah alone.

This is where the arrogance of cleverness meets its limit. Arguments are made on dry land, in studios, with time to think. The sea does not debate. It leaves a person with only what they truly know.

A sceptic might hear this as a God who enjoys cornering His critics. The ayah's tone is different. The signs were offered first, in calm water, to anyone who would read them. The storm only shows what the argument was hiding.

The yacht is towed off the rocks by a lifeboat. The debater does not convert that night. But for the first time in years he is honest with himself. On the rocks, he had no argument at all. He had only a word, and a Lord to say it to.

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.