Al-Waqi'ah · Makki · ayah 73 of 96

Al-Waqi'ah 56:73

نَحْنُ جَعَلْنَـٰهَا تَذْكِرَةً وَمَتَـٰعًا لِّلْمُقْوِينَ

“We have made it a reminder[1616] and provision for the travelers,[1617]”

Saheeh International

Essence

The four questions end in a flat statement, and it gives the fire two jobs: to remind, and to be used.

A reflection

The one ayah in the series that stops asking

A buoy tender works a coast all summer, lifting marks, scraping them, relaying moorings, putting them back. Every buoy, beacon and leading light on that shore was placed there by a decision. Each is recorded in a log and maintained by somebody you will never meet. A stranger sailing in sees a coast that appears to be marked by nature.

This ayah is the log entry.

For four challenges the surah has been asking. Have you considered. Is it you. The grammar has been interrogative and the hearer has been left to supply the answer. Here that stops.

We made it a reminder, and a provision.

There is no question in the sentence and no room left in it. The pronoun comes first, which in Arabic throws the whole weight onto who did it. And the verb is the plain verb for making a thing into something.

What that does to a reader is worth noticing. A question invites you in and lets you keep your dignity, because you answer it yourself. A statement takes the floor. After four invitations the surah simply tells you, and there is nothing to do with the information except receive it.

That is the shape of every honest conversation with a superior. For a while you are asked. Then you are told.

And the pride that survives being asked does not survive being told. A man can enjoy a question; it flatters him to be consulted about the sky. He cannot enjoy a flat sentence about what was done and why, in which his only role is the one the fire was given to.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.