Al-Hadid · Madani · ayah 15 of 29

Al-Hadid 57:15

فَٱلْيَوْمَ لَا يُؤْخَذُ مِنكُمْ فِدْيَةٌ وَلَا مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ ۚ مَأْوَىٰكُمُ ٱلنَّارُ ۖ هِىَ مَوْلَىٰكُمْ ۖ وَبِئْسَ ٱلْمَصِيرُ

“So today no ransom will be taken from you or from those who disbelieved. Your refuge is the Fire. It is most worthy of you, and wretched is the destination."”

Saheeh International

Essence

On that Day no ransom is taken and the Fire becomes the only shelter and companion; today, repentance is still a ransom gladly received.

A reflection

"Today" means there was another day

Fa-l-yawma lā yuʾkhadhu minkum fidyatun: so today, no ransom will be taken from you. The word fidya has a shielding picture behind it. One lexicon defines its root as placing something in the place of another to protect it, as if shielding it with yourself. Ransoming a captive was the plainest case: something given in his place so that he goes free. The lexicons record it plainly.

One commentator asks what the ransom could be, and answers that the word covers faith, repentance and wealth alike. Anything a person might offer in place of himself. On that Day, none of it is taken.

But notice the first word: fa-l-yawma, so today. It is a "today" that implies another day, the one we are living in now. In this day, ransom is taken. Faith is accepted. Repentance is accepted. Wealth spent for Allah's sake is accepted, multiplied, repaid with light, as the ayat just before this have promised (57:11-12).

Picture the clear plastic amnesty bins before the security gates at an airport. Anything you are not allowed to carry through, you can drop in the bin, no questions asked, no penalty. A sign says so. Once you step past the gate with it in your bag, the bin is behind you and it is a different conversation.

The ayah, in describing that Day, quietly tells you which side of the gate you are on. You are still before it. Whatever you are carrying that you should not be, the habit, the grudge, the sin you keep returning to, the bin is right here. Repentance is the ransom that is still taken.

That is not a reason to put it off. The gate is closer than any of us knows. It is a reason for urgent hope: the very thing that will be refused then is being offered, freely, today.

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.