Ad-Dukhan · Makki · ayah 15 of 59

Ad-Dukhan 44:15

إِنَّا كَاشِفُوا۟ ٱلْعَذَابِ قَلِيلًا ۚ إِنَّكُمْ عَآئِدُونَ

“Indeed, We will remove the torment for a little. Indeed, you [disbelievers] will return [to disbelief].”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah lifts the smoke for a while, knowing in advance that they will go straight back, and lifts it anyway.

A reflection

He knew, and lifted it anyway

The ayah holds two statements side by side, and their closeness is breathtaking. We will lift the punishment for a little while. You will go back.

No suspense, no wait-and-see. The One speaking knows exactly what the relieved will do with their relief. One commentator puts it plainly. As soon as We lift it, you will return to your idolatry. You will not stay a moment in the humility you showed.

And yet He lifts it.

Picture a grandmother seeing her grandson off after a weekend visit. On the doorstep he promises to come again next month, to ring every Sunday. She has heard this before. She knows he will be swallowed up by work and forget. She still presses a parcel of food into his hands for the journey, still waves until the car turns the corner.

That image is human and small. The ayah describes something infinitely greater. A Lord whose knowledge of each person's weakness is complete, and whose mercy is not cancelled by that knowledge.

This should humble the ego in a particular way. Most of us trust our own resolutions. We believe that this time the promise will hold. This ayah reveals how little our resolve is worth on its own, and how fully we depend on a forbearance we have not earned.

Some hear 'you will go back' as God boasting of foreknowledge, or setting people up to fail. But nothing in the ayah forces their return. It describes it. The knowledge does not push them back to idolatry; their own choice does. What the knowledge reveals is the generosity of the lifting. It was given in full awareness, as pure gift, with nothing expected in return.

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.