Adh-Dhariyat · Makki · ayah 55 of 60

Adh-Dhariyat 51:55

وَذَكِّرْ فَإِنَّ ٱلذِّكْرَىٰ تَنفَعُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

“And remind, for indeed, the reminder benefits the believers.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Turn from the argument, but never stop reminding: the reminder is a medicine that works on every heart willing to take it, including yours.

A reflection

Remind with His words, not only yours

Wa-dhakkir: and remind. Remind with what? The earliest explanations are specific. One commentary says: admonish with the Quran. An early authority says: remind, with the Quran, for the reminder by it benefits the believers. Another adds: remind them of Allah's punishments and His days, the ones the surah has just recounted.

The Quran calls itself by this very name. It is al-dhikr, the Reminder. So the instruction to remind is, first of all, an instruction to bring people back to the Book.

That is a quiet correction for anyone who wants to help others in faith. Many of us, when we try to remind, reach for our own words. Our opinions, our stories, our frustration with how people are living. Some of that has its place. But the reminder that heals is the one that carries Allah's words.

Picture a youth worker at a mosque. For two years he has given the teenage boys talks on Saturday evenings: long, heartfelt, full of his own experiences. They listen politely and drift off. One week, tired, he tries something different. He reads a single ayah aloud, slowly. He gives its meaning in two sentences. Then he asks them what it makes them think of. The room changes. One boy who never speaks asks to read it again.

His own words were not wrong. They were simply not the reminder. The ayah was.

This also lifts a pressure from the one reminding. You do not have to be eloquent, or impressive, or original. You have to bring people to the words that already carry their own power. 'We have sent down the Reminder, and We will guard it' (15:9).

So when you next want to remind someone, a child, a friend, yourself, open the Book first. Let one ayah do the work. Your part is to carry it, gently, to where it is needed.

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.