Az-Zukhruf · Makki · ayah 30 of 89

Az-Zukhruf 43:30

وَلَمَّا جَآءَهُمُ ٱلْحَقُّ قَالُوا۟ هَـٰذَا سِحْرٌ وَإِنَّا بِهِۦ كَـٰفِرُونَ

“But when the truth came to them, they said, "This is magic, and indeed we are, concerning it, disbelievers."”

Saheeh International

Essence

When the truth finally arrived they called it magic: the word people use for what they cannot answer and will not accept.

A reflection

Accusing the truth of being a trick

Qālū hādhā siḥr: they said, this is magic. The root of siḥr has a telling picture. One lexicon gives its basic sense as turning a thing from its reality into something else. The Arabs asked: what saḥaraka from this course? What turned you away? A children's toy that changed colour depending on which side was pulled was called a saḥḥāra. Rain that spoiled clay was said to saḥara it. The lexicons give this plainly, and the image is established.

Now put that beside the previous ayah. What came to them was al-ḥaqq, the truth: in its root, what is firm, fitting, the door finally sitting square in its frame (43:29). And they called it siḥr: the thing that turns reality into something else.

That is an almost perfect inversion. The one thing in their world that was exactly what it claimed to be, they accused of being a trick. Meanwhile the idols, carved wood presented as divine intercessors, were the real saḥḥāra. They were a toy that looked like one thing from one side and another from the other.

One commentary puts their response sharply. They added to their association of partners a stubbornness against the truth and contempt for it. They called the Quran magic, and disbelieved in it, and belittled the Messenger ﷺ.

There is a warning in that inversion for any age. People are often most suspicious of what is plainly true, and least suspicious of what has been turned to look attractive. The word siḥr asks us to check which way our suspicion points.

What in your life do you accuse of being a trick, and what tricks have you stopped noticing?

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.