Muhammad · Madani · ayah 18 of 38

Muhammad 47:18

فَهَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا ٱلسَّاعَةَ أَن تَأْتِيَهُم بَغْتَةً ۖ فَقَدْ جَآءَ أَشْرَاطُهَا ۚ فَأَنَّىٰ لَهُمْ إِذَا جَآءَتْهُمْ ذِكْرَىٰهُمْ

“Then do they await except that the Hour should come upon them unexpectedly? But already there have come [some of] its indications. Then how [i.e., what good] to them, when it has come, will be their remembrance?”

Saheeh International

Essence

After every proof has been given, only one thing is left to wait for, and when it arrives remembering will be too late.

A reflection

The first signs of a parting

"Its signs have already come." The word is ashrāṭ, and the lexicons give its root a cluster of small, practical pictures. A herder marked the camels he had set aside for sale. A cupper's cut left a mark on the skin. Two stars called al-sharaṭān rose first in spring, before the rains. So a thing's ashrāṭ came to mean its first marks, the early signs that tell you what is coming.

Three classical commentators quote the same line of old poetry to explain it. A man speaks to someone he loves. If you have resolved to cut our bond, he says, its first signs have already begun to show.

It is a tender example to choose. Everyone knows how endings announce themselves before they arrive. Not with a declaration, but with small changes nobody mentions.

Picture a friendship of fifteen years. For most of that time, messages are answered within minutes. Then one year, replies start taking a day. Then three days. Plans are "maybe next month". A birthday passes with a short text. Neither friend has said anything. Both know.

The ayah uses that word for the Hour. Its first signs have already shown themselves. One commentator names them: the sending of the final Messenger, and the splitting of the moon. Another says the Prophet's ﷺ very coming was one of them.

The question the ayah presses is simple. When the first signs of an ending appear, what do you do? Some people pretend not to notice. Others turn around while there is still time to mend things. The ayah is an invitation to be the second kind.

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.