Muhammad · Madani · ayah 8 of 38

Muhammad 47:8

وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فَتَعْسًا لَّهُمْ وَأَضَلَّ أَعْمَـٰلَهُمْ

“But those who disbelieve - for them is misery, and He will waste their deeds.”

Saheeh International

Essence

One ayah after the promise of firm feet comes its opposite: a fall flat on the face, with no voice wishing the faller up.

A reflection

The cry no one gives

The ayah opens with a single strong word: taʿsan. Translations give "misery" or "ruin". The first hearers heard something more physical.

The lexicons and commentaries describe it. Taʿs is falling forward onto the face. One early linguist set it beside its twin: taʿs is falling on the face, naks is falling on the head. When a riding camel stumbled in the desert, the rider had two possible cries. Laʿā was a wish for the animal to rise again. Taʿsan was the opposite: let it stay down. A pre-Islamic poet, praising his strong she-camel, said that if she ever stumbled, taʿsan would suit her better than laʿā.

So the word is not just ruin. It is a fall, and the absence of anyone wishing you up.

Picture a one-year-old learning to walk in a crowded kitchen. Every time he topples, three adults clap and call, "Up you get." His grandfather goes down on aching knees to help him. Falling is not frightening when a room full of voices is wishing you back up.

Now imagine falling in that same kitchen and hearing nothing. No one reaches out. That silence is the picture inside this word.

Set it beside the ayah just before. To those who help Allah's cause: "He will make your feet firm" (47:7). To those who refuse: a fall on the face. The two ayat stand side by side like two walkers on the same road. One is held upright. The other goes down, and no voice says laʿā.

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.