Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 23 of 165

Al-An'am 6:23

ثُمَّ لَمْ تَكُن فِتْنَتُهُمْ إِلَّآ أَن قَالُوا۟ وَٱللَّهِ رَبِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِكِينَ

“Then there will be no [excuse upon] examination except they will say, "By Allāh, our Lord, we were not those who associated."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Tested by one question, a lifetime of devotion collapses into one sworn line: by Allah, our Lord, we never set up partners.

A reflection

What the enchantment came to in the end

A man spent his late twenties inside a get-rich scheme. He bought in early, signed up his brother and two school friends, and argued with every doubter. He posted about it nightly and called the sceptics jealous. When it collapsed, he lost his savings and a friendship. A year later, at a wedding, someone mentioned it. 'Oh, I was never really into that,' he said.

The ayah's word is fitna, and its root image is the goldsmith's fire. The Arabs said fatantu al-dhahab when they put gold into the flame. The heat does not make the gold. It shows what was gold and what was dross. From that picture came trial, temptation and infatuation.

The commentaries read the word here in several ways. Many take it as their answer, or their excuse, under testing. One early linguist offered a subtler reading, preserved in several commentaries. Their fitna was their infatuation with their idols, the thing they were enchanted by. Its whole outcome was that they disowned it.

He compared it to someone who loves a worthless companion. Trouble comes because of him, so he swears he never knew him. You could then say: your love for him came to nothing but disowning him. One commentary calls this a fine meaning that only those who know Arabic speech well would catch.

Another commentary draws the picture in full. This was the creed they held all their lives. They fought for it, boasted of it, and called it the religion of their fathers. Its end was a sworn oath that they had never held it.

There is a test here for every enthusiasm. What am I so enchanted by that I would argue for it with anyone? Would I still own it on the day it is put into the fire? Some loves come out as gold. Others turn out to be dross, and the lover is the first to deny them. Give your whole heart only to what you will never need to disown.

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.