Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 55 of 165

Al-An'am 6:55

وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُفَصِّلُ ٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ وَلِتَسْتَبِينَ سَبِيلُ ٱلْمُجْرِمِينَ

“And thus do We detail the verses, and [thus] the way of the criminals will become evident.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah lays His signs out one by one, so that the road of those who wrong themselves stands out plainly and can be avoided.

A reflection

Three listeners, three different answers

At the first session of a beginners' swimming class, the coach watches before she teaches. One child will not get into the water. One clings to the side but watches everything. One leaps in and ignores every rule. Same pool, three different lessons.

One classical commentator reads this ayah as the close of exactly that kind of sorting. Look back over the passage. Some hearers are sealed against the message, and hope for them is thin. Some show a sign of openness: they grow afraid when the gathering to their Lord is mentioned (6:51). Some have entered the faith but do not yet keep its limits. They are the ones who do wrong in folly and then turn back (6:54).

'Thus do We detail the signs,' the ayah says. On this reading, the detailing is a map of people. It lays out the states of those who deny and those who stumble, so that each can be met as he should be.

That is a leadership lesson hiding in a short verse. Good leaders do not speak to a room as one block. They notice who is hostile, who is hesitant, who is inside but careless, and who is quietly faithful. A warning that helps the hesitant may harden the hostile. A rebuke the careless need could crush the faithful.

The passage has just modelled it. Warn those who fear (6:51). Protect the faithful at the edge of the circle (6:52). See the scoffers clearly (6:53). Greet the returning with peace (6:54). Four kinds of people, four responses, in four ayat.

Before you address a group this week, sort it first. Then speak to each part as it needs.

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.