Al-Hadid · Madani · ayah 26 of 29

Al-Hadid 57:26

وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا وَإِبْرَٰهِيمَ وَجَعَلْنَا فِى ذُرِّيَّتِهِمَا ٱلنُّبُوَّةَ وَٱلْكِتَـٰبَ ۖ فَمِنْهُم مُّهْتَدٍ ۖ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَـٰسِقُونَ

“And We have already sent Noah and Abraham and placed in their descendants prophethood and scripture; and among them is he who is guided, but many of them are defiantly disobedient.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Prophecy and scripture ran through the line of Nuh and Ibrahim, yet many still slipped away: faith is never simply inherited.

A reflection

The date that slipped out of its skin

A man manages the car park beside a large old mosque. His great-grandfather helped build it, and his name is on a plaque by the door. Every Friday the great-grandson waves worshippers into spaces with real courtesy. He has not been inside in ten years.

The ayah describes the most privileged family in history. Wa jaʿalnā fī dhurriyyatihimā al-nubuwwata wa al-kitāb: and We placed in the offspring of Nuh and Ibrahim prophethood and the Book. One commentator notes that after Nuh, every prophet came from his line. After Ibrahim, every book and every messenger came from his.

And yet the ayah's verdict on that family is blunt. Fa-minhum muhtadin wa kathīrun minhum fāsiqūn. Some of them were guided, and many of them were defiant.

The word fāsiq has a vivid origin. The lexicons say the Arabs used it of a ripe date bursting out of its skin. The mouse was nicknamed fuwaysiqa, the little fāsiq, for slipping out of its hole to spoil stored food. A fāsiq has left the casing that held and protected it.

One commentator observes that this word is stronger than 'astray'. To leave the straight road after reaching it, after being able to walk it and knowing it, is worse than never finding it. He adds that the phrasing signals the defiant were the majority.

That is the mirror. Being born near guidance is a casing, not a guarantee. A family of scholars, a home full of Quran, a name on a mosque plaque: all of these protect, like a date's skin. But the fruit can still slip out.

The car-park manager is not beyond hope; the door is twenty metres away. Neither are any of us who were raised inside the casing. The question is not whose descendant you are. It is whether you are still inside.

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.