Muhammad · Madani · ayah 25 of 38

Muhammad 47:25

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱرْتَدُّوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَدْبَـٰرِهِم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلْهُدَى ۙ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ سَوَّلَ لَهُمْ وَأَمْلَىٰ لَهُمْ

“Indeed, those who reverted back [to disbelief] after guidance had become clear to them - Satan enticed them and prolonged hope for them.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Some saw the road clearly and still turned on their heels, because Satan made the way back look easy and stretched their hopes out long.

A reflection

Turning your back, one ayah after "pondering"

The ayah before this one asks: "Do they not then yatadabbarūn the Quran?" (47:24). Do they not ponder it, go round to the back of it? This ayah answers with people who turned back "on their adbār", their backs, their heels.

It is the same root. D-b-r: the back of a thing, and its end. The lexicons say you can turn your back on something, or walk round behind it to see where it leads. One is tadabbur, pondering. The other is retreat.

So in two consecutive ayat the Quran sets the two uses of one root side by side. Those who would not go round to the back of the Book's meaning ended up showing their own backs to it.

The root's other word, irtaddū, adds to the picture. It means turning back the way you came. The lexicons use it of a false coin handed back to its payer, and of a thing returned to where it started. These people did not simply stop. They reversed.

And notice when: "after guidance had become clear to them". One concise commentary stresses this. After the proof had been established, and the Prophet's truthfulness was plain. They were not lost in fog. They could see the road.

Picture a man driving home after eight hours on the motorway. At last, over the hill, he sees the lights of his own town. Then, at the final roundabout, he takes the exit back the way he came. Nothing was blocking the road. He simply turned.

That is the strangeness the ayah describes. The danger is not only for those who never find the way. It is for those who find it, see it clearly, and turn their backs on it anyway.

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.