Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 16 of 165

Al-An'am 6:16

مَّن يُصْرَفْ عَنْهُ يَوْمَئِذٍ فَقَدْ رَحِمَهُۥ ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ ٱلْفَوْزُ ٱلْمُبِينُ

“He from whom it is averted that Day - [Allāh] has granted him mercy. And that is the clear attainment.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The clearest win of all is described as something not happening: whoever is spared that Day's punishment has been shown mercy, and has plainly triumphed.

A reflection

Across the waterless stretch

On the fourth day of a desert footrace, a runner stops thinking about winning. The leaders vanished hours ago. All she wants is the next water checkpoint, a white tent shimmering at the edge of sight. When she reaches it, she sits in the shade and weeps. Nobody would call it a victory. To her, it is the only one that matters.

The ayah's word for triumph is fawz, and the first hearers knew where it came from. A mafāza was a waterless desert, two nights or more without a well. Many said it was named in hope: whoever crossed it had fāza, come through safe. Others said it was named for the dying it caused. In a game of drawing lots, the arrow that came out first had also fāza, won. So the word holds two things at once. Escape from what you fear, and arrival at what you love.

That is why the ayah can define the clear triumph so strangely. Whoever has the punishment turned away from him that Day, He has had mercy on him. The win is described first as something not happening. One commentary defines fawz as gaining profit and escaping loss together. Another ayah joins both halves openly: whoever is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to the Garden has triumphed (3:185).

We usually picture success as accumulation. More money, more followers, more titles. Such wins are real, but they rarely include the second half. They do not get you out of the desert. They only make the crossing more comfortable for a while.

The ayah resets the scoreboard. The question is not how far ahead you finished. It is whether you came through. Reaching the far side, alive and welcomed, is the one win that cannot be taken back.

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.