Adh-Dhariyat · Makki · ayah 59 of 60

Adh-Dhariyat 51:59

فَإِنَّ لِلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ ذَنُوبًا مِّثْلَ ذَنُوبِ أَصْحَـٰبِهِمْ فَلَا يَسْتَعْجِلُونِ

“And indeed, for those who have wronged is a portion [of punishment] like the portion of their companions [i.e., predecessors], so let them not impatiently urge Me.”

Saheeh International

Essence

At the well of history every people draws its bucket in turn; the wrongdoers' turn is coming like their predecessors', so let them not hurry it.

A reflection

Not 'sins': a bucket, drawn in turn

A reader with a little Arabic might hear dhanūb and think of dhunūb, sins. The two look alike in transliteration. But this word is a different one, and its picture is vivid and established.

A dhanūb is a large bucket, full or nearly full of water. The lexicons note that an empty one is not called by that name. The commentaries explain the image together. The Arabs drew water from wells in turns. Each party lowered its bucket and drew its share, then the next took theirs. So dhanūb came to mean a share, a portion, one's turn. An old desert verse puts it plainly: we have a bucket, and you have a bucket; and if you refuse, the whole well is ours.

One modern translation catches this exactly. 'Those who do wrong will have their turn, like the turn of their counterparts.'

Picture a hot summer in a village whose mains supply has failed. A single standpipe is set up on the green. Families queue with one bucket each. Nobody can push in. Nobody can draw twice. When your turn comes, it comes, and you take exactly what the rope brings up.

That is the picture the first hearers saw. History is a well. ʿĀd lowered their bucket, then Thamud, then the people of Nuh, then Pharaoh. Each drew its share. Now the deniers of Makkah stand at the rim, and the ayah says: your bucket is coming up, the same as theirs.

One classical commentator adds a second sense. The punishment is poured over their heads, the way a full bucket is emptied over someone.

The image carries a sober comfort for believers, and a sober warning for everyone. No one jumps the queue at that well, and no one is missed. Each generation's turn arrives, and each receives what it has drawn.

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.