At-Tur · Makki · ayah 46 of 49

At-Tur 52:46

يَوْمَ لَا يُغْنِى عَنْهُمْ كَيْدُهُمْ شَيْـًٔا وَلَا هُمْ يُنصَرُونَ

“The Day their plan will not avail them at all, nor will they be helped.”

Saheeh International

Essence

On that Day their clever plans will not shield them by a hair, and no ally will come: both supports they trusted give way.

A reflection

Not even a shield the width of a hair

The phrase lā yughnī ʿanhum is more precise than 'will not benefit them'. A classical commentator explained the difference. To say something aghnānī, it 'availed me', means it brought me benefit. To say it aghnā ʿannī, with 'from', means it stood in for me and kept harm away from me. So 'their plotting will not avail them from' means it will not even shield them. He called that more severe than saying it will bring no benefit.

The lexicons support the picture. The root means sufficiency: one thing stands in for another and is enough. Their plots were supposed to be enough. On that Day they will not stand in for anything.

The commentator noticed a second detail. The ayah places 'from them' before 'their plotting'. A listener who heard 'their plotting will not avail' might wonder whether it would help someone else, and keep hoping. But 'will not avail them' cuts the hope off at once.

And the word shayʾan, anything at all, finishes the thought. Not a little. Not a part. Nothing.

The commentator drew a contrast with a different Day described elsewhere: a day when the truthful will benefit from their truthfulness (5:119). There the verb is 'benefit', plainly positive. Here, for the plotters, it is the failure even to shield. Two kinds of people, two opposite ends.

The Quraysh had put enormous effort into their plots: councils, alliances, plans to imprison or kill. They believed this work was their strength. The ayah says that the very thing they trusted most will not stand between them and the outcome by the width of a hair.

It is a quiet question for anyone who relies on cleverness. When it matters most, will your arrangements stand in for you? Or will something truer be 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.