As-Saf · Madani · ayah 13 of 14

As-Saf 61:13

وَأُخْرَىٰ تُحِبُّونَهَا ۖ نَصْرٌ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَفَتْحٌ قَرِيبٌ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

“And [you will obtain] another [favor] that you love - victory from Allāh and an imminent conquest; and give good tidings to the believers.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Beyond the reward already promised, something else is added, loved for its own sake: help from Allah, and an opening drawing near.

A reflection

A door that was locked, now swung open

Fatḥ is, at root, the plain opposite of locking: a door swung open where it had been shut. From that single picture the word spreads widely through the lexicons. Victory is an opening, because it clears a way that was blocked. A judge's ruling is also fatḥ, because it separates two disputing sides so that what lies behind their dispute is finally laid bare. Water breaking out from a hidden spring is fatḥ, and so, in ordinary usage, is relief arriving after grief, a locked thing finally giving way.

Set beside naṣr, help, in the same short phrase, fatḥ adds something distinct rather than repeating it. Help describes support arriving while a struggle is still under way. Opening describes the struggle's actual resolution, the locked door finally giving, the disputed matter finally settled. The two together describe a complete arc: aid given during the difficulty, and then the difficulty itself brought to an actual close.

This ayah does not simply promise comfort during hardship. It promises that the hardship has a door, and that the door is going to open.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.