Ad-Dukhan · Makki · ayah 41 of 59

Ad-Dukhan 44:41

يَوْمَ لَا يُغْنِى مَوْلًى عَن مَّوْلًى شَيْـًٔا وَلَا هُمْ يُنصَرُونَ

“The Day when no relation[1465] will avail a relation at all, nor will they be helped -”

Saheeh International

Essence

On the Day of Sorting, the cousins, allies and friends we leaned on can stand in for no one, and no help arrives.

A reflection

The network goes silent

Yawma lā yughnī mawlan ʿan mawlan shayʾan: the Day no mawlā will avail a mawlā in anything.

The root w-l-y is nearness, the lexicons say, with nothing in between. The desert Arabs called the second rain of the season al-walī, because it came right after the first. From that closeness came everyone who stood nearest a man. His cousin. His ally by oath. His neighbour. The freed slave and the one who freed him. All were his mawlā.

One commentary explains the word here as the companion whose role is to take charge of his companion's affairs. Others gloss it simply: no cousin will defend his cousin, no relative his relative, no friend his friend.

For the first hearers, this was a shocking sentence. Their whole society ran on mawlās. A man's safety came from his clan and his allies. If he was wronged, they avenged him. If he was in debt, they paid. Without his network, he was nobody.

A man wants to build an extension on his house. His cousin sits on the local planning committee. The application is approved within a week, while his neighbours wait months. He has always lived like this. A word in the right ear, and doors open.

The ayah names a Day when that word in the right ear does nothing. The cousin is there, on the same plain, facing his own account. He cannot even help himself.

This is not a rejection of family and friendship. The Quran honours both. It is a warning against leaning on them for what only Allah can give. Our connections are a gift for this life. On that Day, they will not stand in for us.

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.