Al-Qamar · Makki · ayah 40 of 55

Al-Qamar 54:40

وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا ٱلْقُرْءَانَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ

“And We have certainly made the Qur’ān easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?”

Saheeh International

Essence

The refrain sounds a fourth and last time, after a town that refused the good it was given: remembering means turning towards the lawful.

A reflection

From the forbidden to the open door

A man in his forties finally admits that one habit has been quietly running his evenings. He tries simply stopping, and fails twice. The third time, a friend suggests something different: fill the same hour with something good. A walk, a class, his children's homework. The empty hour was the problem. Once it had a better use, the old habit had less room.

One early commentator, explaining the muddakir at this point in the surah, gives a phrase worth keeping. It is the one who takes warning and is held back by it from what Allah has forbidden, towards what He has commanded and permitted. Not only away from something. Towards something.

That matters after this story in particular. Elsewhere the Quran records Lūṭ's plea to his people: you leave what your Lord created for you among your spouses (26:166). Their ruin was not a lack of lawful good. It was turning away from it.

Allah gains nothing from our turning. Whoever strives, strives only for himself (29:6). The door of what is permitted is wide for our sake, because the heart is restless until it rests in something good. Many people today feel a pull they cannot explain towards things that leave them emptier. The Quran's answer is not only "stop". It is "come this way".

Remembering, then, is a change of direction. Name one thing you are trying to leave. Then name the lawful good you will put in its place.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.