Al-Waqi'ah · Makki · ayah 40 of 96

Al-Waqi'ah 56:40

وَثُلَّةٌ مِّنَ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِينَ

“And a company of the later peoples.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The word for the latecomers is the back of the saddle, the part a rider leans against.

A reflection

The latecomers are the backrest

An old camel saddle had two uprights. The front one was the qādima. The rear one was the ākhira, the piece behind you, leaned against on a long ride. The lexicons record that as the root's home. From it the word spread. The outer corner of the eye was the muʾakhkhar. A sale with the payment put off was bi-ākhira. A camel born fī ukhrā al-ibil came at the tail of the herd. And al-ākhira became the name of the abode that comes after, while this world is al-dunyā, the near one, or al-ūlā, the first.

So "the later" is not a flat chronological label. The word's first picture is the thing behind you that holds you up.

That quietly dignifies a position almost everyone experiences as a loss. To come late is to arrive after the founding, the great generation, the age people write books about. Every community has a story about its golden period, and everyone alive is after it.

But look at what the ayah actually does. It gives the later company the same noun as the earlier. Not a smaller word, not a lesser category. A thulla from the former, and a thulla from the later. One commentary notes that the "and" lists two bunches belonging to one group. The group as a whole is two of them.

There is no discount for lateness in the sentence.

And the root suggests why. A rider does not lean on the front of the saddle. The thing behind is what makes the long journey bearable. Being later is not being left over. In this language it is being the part that takes the weight.

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.