Az-Zukhruf · Makki · ayah 25 of 89

Az-Zukhruf 43:25

فَٱنتَقَمْنَا مِنْهُمْ ۖ فَٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةُ ٱلْمُكَذِّبِينَ

“So We took retribution from them; then see how was the end of the deniers.”

Saheeh International

Essence

After warner upon warner was refused, retribution came; look at how it ended, because the end of a thing tells its truth.

A reflection

Repayment that follows rejection

Fa-ntaqamnā minhum: so We took retribution from them. The word unsettles modern readers, who hear 'vengeance' and think of temper and grudges. The root says something different.

Its first picture, the lexicons say, is in the eye and the tongue: rejecting what someone does and finding fault with it. The Arabs had a lovely phrase: I found nothing to hold against him except his kindness. Push that disapproval to its end and it becomes punishment. So niqma is repayment born of rejection. The lexicons give this plainly, and the image is established.

Notice the order in this passage. Warner after warner was sent (43:23). Each offered something better guided (43:24). Each was refused outright: whatever you were sent with, we reject. Only then: fa-ntaqamnā. One commentary adds that it came because they denied Allah's signs and His messengers.

The ego is quick to demand patience for itself and punishment for others. Picture a man who drives at fifteen over the limit every morning and is outraged when he is finally caught by a camera. Yet the same man writes angry letters to the paper about other drivers speeding past his house. Justice, for the ego, is always for someone else.

The ayah humbles that instinct. Retribution here is not a flash of anger. It is the end of a long patience, after every warning was refused. It belongs to the One whose judgement is perfectly just.

Someone may still ask: why does Allah describe Himself taking retribution at all? Because a world where refused warnings never had consequences would be a world where warnings meant nothing. His retribution is what gives His mercy its seriousness.

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.