Al-Jathiyah · Makki · ayah 23 of 37

Al-Jathiyah 45:23

أَفَرَءَيْتَ مَنِ ٱتَّخَذَ إِلَـٰهَهُۥ هَوَىٰهُ وَأَضَلَّهُ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍ وَخَتَمَ عَلَىٰ سَمْعِهِۦ وَقَلْبِهِۦ وَجَعَلَ عَلَىٰ بَصَرِهِۦ غِشَـٰوَةً فَمَن يَهْدِيهِ مِنۢ بَعْدِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ

“Have you seen he who has taken as his god his [own] desire, and Allāh has sent him astray due to knowledge[1473] and has set a seal upon his hearing and his heart and put over his vision a veil? So who will guide him after Allāh? Then will you not be reminded?”

Saheeh International

Essence

The ayah asks whether you have seen the one who made his own desire his god, and you may have, this morning, in the mirror.

A reflection

Not only about idol-worshippers

Most readers meet this ayah with a quiet assumption. It is about other people: the idol-worshippers of Makkah, or perhaps the openly irreligious today. A believer who prays and fasts has, surely, already chosen his God.

One concise commentary closes that exit. This ayah, it says, is a foundation for warning believers against letting desire be what drives their deeds. An early authority quoted in two commentaries goes further: Allah never mentioned hawā, desire, anywhere in the Quran except to condemn it.

The narrow first image of 'desire' is lust. The Arabic is wider. It is any inclination of the self that sets itself up as the final word. Anger that must be obeyed, pride that cannot back down, comfort that cannot be disturbed. The commentators describe the man in the ayah simply. Whatever he desires, he does. One early scholar put it in a sentence: he does not desire a thing but he worships it.

Our culture has turned that into a motto. Picture a sixth-form prize evening. The guest speaker, a successful entrepreneur, gives the students one message. Trust your gut. Do whatever feels right. Your feelings are your compass. Nobody else gets to tell you who you are. The parents applaud. It is kindly meant, and it describes, almost word for word, the person this ayah is astonished at.

That is why the ayah opens with a-fa-raʾayta, 'have you seen?' One commentator calls it an expression of astonishment. Look at this: a person who has quietly made the self the thing that is obeyed.

The question for a believer is not whether he has an idol on a shelf. It is what wins when Allah's command and his own preference disagree. If preference wins every time, the ayah is not about someone else.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.