Muhammad · Madani · ayah 22 of 38

Muhammad 47:22

فَهَلْ عَسَيْتُمْ إِن تَوَلَّيْتُمْ أَن تُفْسِدُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَتُقَطِّعُوٓا۟ أَرْحَامَكُمْ

“So would you perhaps, if you turned away,[1504] cause corruption on earth and sever your [ties of] relationship?”

Saheeh International

Essence

A stinging question: if you turned away, or were handed power, would you spoil the earth and cut the ties of the womb?

A reflection

Kinship stood and asked for refuge

This ayah is tied to one of the most moving sayings in the Sunnah. Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim both record it.

Allah created the creation. When He had finished, kinship, the raḥim, stood up. It said: this is the place of one who seeks refuge with You from being cut off. Allah said: yes. Will you not be content that I keep connection with whoever keeps connection with you, and cut off whoever cuts you off? It said: certainly, my Lord. He said: then that is yours.

In the version in Sahih Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ then said: recite, if you wish. And he recited this ayah, the next, and the one after. That third ayah asks: "Do they not then reflect on the Quran, or are there locks upon hearts?" (47:24).

Notice the sequence he recited. Cutting family ties, then a heart deafened and blinded, then a heart locked against the Quran. The three belong together. Someone who has shut out their own kin often finds the Book shut to them as well.

Picture a grandmother's eightieth birthday in a rented function room. Fifty relatives come. Two of her sons, estranged for nine years over a business, sit at opposite ends of the room. When the cake arrives, she looks from one to the other, and everybody sees her look. Nobody speaks.

That is the moment the saying describes. Kinship itself standing in the room and asking for refuge.

If there is someone you have cut off, this ayah and that saying are an invitation. Not to pretend nothing happened. But to remember who promised to keep connection with the one who keeps 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.