Ad-Dukhan · Makki · ayah 9 of 59

Ad-Dukhan 44:9

بَلْ هُمْ فِى شَكٍّ يَلْعَبُونَ

“But they are in doubt, amusing themselves.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Their trouble was not too little evidence but a great doubt they had chosen to play with instead of settle.

A reflection

A great doubt, and a game of cards

The ayah puts two words side by side that should not belong together. Shakk, doubt. And yalʿabūn, they are playing.

One commentator notes that shakk here is made indefinite to show its size: a great doubt. That makes the pairing stranger still. If you truly did not know whether the Lord of the heavens and earth had sent you a message, the reasonable response would be urgency. You would search, ask, test. Instead the ayah finds them at play.

The root of shakk carries a sharp picture. A warrior shakka his enemy's clothing with a spear, pinning it. A twig pushed through two leaves shakka them, skewering them together. One lexicon says doubt took its name from this: the doubter has two matters pinned on one stick and cannot be sure of either. Another defines doubt as two opposites standing level in a person, neither yet settled.

Picture two friends in the cabin of a yacht moored in a small harbour. Outside, the barometer is falling. The rigging has begun to whine and the halyards slap against the mast. Both have noticed. Neither knows how bad it will get. They deal another hand of cards.

That is shakk joined to laʿib. The doubt is real; it is not pretended. But it has been made comfortable. It is allowed to sit there, two possibilities skewered level, while life carries on as a game.

The ayah does not condemn doubt as such. It condemns doubt that has stopped asking. A person can hold a question and keep moving towards an answer. Or they can hold it as an excuse never to move at all, which is exactly what the cards in the cabin are for.

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.