Al-Ahqaf · Makki · ayah 20 of 35

Al-Ahqaf 46:20

وَيَوْمَ يُعْرَضُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ عَلَى ٱلنَّارِ أَذْهَبْتُمْ طَيِّبَـٰتِكُمْ فِى حَيَاتِكُمُ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱسْتَمْتَعْتُم بِهَا فَٱلْيَوْمَ تُجْزَوْنَ عَذَابَ ٱلْهُونِ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَسْتَكْبِرُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ ٱلْحَقِّ وَبِمَا كُنتُمْ تَفْسُقُونَ

“And the Day those who disbelieved are exposed to the Fire [it will be said], "You exhausted your pleasures during your worldly life and enjoyed them, so this Day you will be awarded the punishment of [extreme] humiliation because you were arrogant upon the earth without right and because you were defiantly disobedient."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those who spent their whole share of good things in this life, swollen with pride, are told at the Fire that only humiliation is left.

A reflection

Is enjoying good things the sin?

Some readers come away from this ayah feeling that enjoyment itself is suspect. A good meal, a beautiful home, a holiday: perhaps each one is a withdrawal from the Hereafter. That anxiety can sour every blessing.

The commentaries guard against that misreading. One records an early remark that the ayah was revealed about the disbelievers of Quraysh. The good things of the Hereafter would have been theirs had they believed. They did not believe, so they took their good things early, in this world. The commentary adds that the rebuke is really about their unbelief. If it were only about enjoyment, punishment would not follow from it. The ayah itself names the causes: arrogance on earth without right, and leaving the obedience of Allah.

The root of ṭayyibāt, good things, helps too. One lexicon gives it a test. Food taken lawfully is good now and later, and does not sit heavily. Food taken wrongly may be pleasant now, but turns bad later. The image is established. The problem was never the sweetness. It was taking it in a way that turns bad.

Picture a young woman who has just read this ayah on her birthday. Her family has booked a restaurant. She sits through the meal anxious, half-refusing dessert, sure she is spending her Hereafter on a plate. Her grandmother notices and quietly asks her one question: 'Did you thank Allah for it?' She did. 'Then it is not the meal you were worried about.'

Enjoy what is lawful, with gratitude, and without arrogance. The ayah is aimed at those who made this world their only portion and looked down on others from it.

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.