Al-Ahqaf · Makki · ayah 32 of 35

Al-Ahqaf 46:32

وَمَن لَّا يُجِبْ دَاعِىَ ٱللَّهِ فَلَيْسَ بِمُعْجِزٍ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَيْسَ لَهُۥ مِن دُونِهِۦٓ أَوْلِيَآءُ ۚ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ فِى ضَلَـٰلٍ مُّبِينٍ

“But he who does not respond to the Caller of Allāh will not cause failure [to Him] upon earth, and he will not have besides Him any protectors. Those are in manifest error."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Whoever refuses Allah's caller cannot outrun Him anywhere on earth, has no protector besides Him, and is lost in an error plain to see.

A reflection

Boycotting the sunrise

The phrase laysa bi-muʿjizin has a picture inside it. The lexicons say the root's first sense is the hindmost part. It names the rump of a camel, the stump end of a palm, the last line of a poem. In a race, aʿjaza meant to outrun someone until he could not catch you. The image is established.

So the ayah says: the one who refuses does not leave Allah behind. One commentary notes that 'on the earth' widens the circle. Run to any of its regions, sink into its depths, and you are still within His reach. Another adds that wherever he goes, he is under His authority and in His grasp.

Here the ego needs to shrink. Refusal often feels like strength. The proud self imagines that saying no to Allah is a kind of victory, a declaration of independence.

Picture a woman furious at a long wet spring. She decides she has had enough of the weather and keeps her curtains shut for a week. Outside, the blossom opens, the birds nest, the days lengthen. The sun rises every morning without asking her. The only one who misses the spring is her.

Someone may ask whether a God who warns this way is insecure, needing to frighten people into line. The ayah does not describe a wounded ruler. It describes reality, as plainly as a map shows a cliff. He loses nothing by our refusal; He is free of all need (35:15). The warning is for us, because the one who refuses is the one left at the back of the race. It is a mercy to be told where the edge is before walking off it. The ego hears a threat; the humble heart hears a friend shouting a warning across the fog.

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.