Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 4 of 165

Al-An'am 6:4

وَمَا تَأْتِيهِم مِّنْ ءَايَةٍ مِّنْ ءَايَـٰتِ رَبِّهِمْ إِلَّا كَانُوا۟ عَنْهَا مُعْرِضِينَ

“And no sign comes to them from the signs of their Lord except that they turn away therefrom.”

Saheeh International

Essence

After three ayat of plain evidence, the surah stops speaking to the deniers and speaks about them: every sign met the same turned face.

A reflection

Spoken about, no longer spoken to

This same sentence closes a run of signs in Ya-Sin, and the entry on 36:46 treats it in full. Here in Al-An'am it does something different, because of where it stands.

The surah opens with three ayat of sheer evidence. Praise belongs to the One who created the heavens and the earth, and made darkness and light. He made you from clay and set you a term. He knows your secret and your open speech. All of it is addressed to you.

Then the voice turns. Wa mā taʾtīhim: no sign comes to them. A commentary on language reads this shift as a verdict carried by grammar. Their turning away had gone so far that they are no longer spoken to. They are spoken about. The ayah turns its face from those who turned theirs.

Most of us know that moment in a room. Someone stops answering you and starts describing you to the others. It is quieter than shouting, and colder.

Yet the address does not end for good. Two ayat later the surah turns back: 'as We have not established you'. The door is left ajar.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.