As-Saf · Madani · ayah 5 of 14

As-Saf 61:5

وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِۦ يَـٰقَوْمِ لِمَ تُؤْذُونَنِى وَقَد تَّعْلَمُونَ أَنِّى رَسُولُ ٱللَّهِ إِلَيْكُمْ ۖ فَلَمَّا زَاغُوٓا۟ أَزَاغَ ٱللَّهُ قُلُوبَهُمْ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِى ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلْفَـٰسِقِينَ

“And [mention, O Muḥammad], when Moses said to his people, "O my people, why do you harm me while you certainly know that I am the messenger of Allāh to you?" And when they deviated, Allāh caused their hearts to deviate. And Allāh does not guide the defiantly disobedient people.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Musa's own people harmed him while knowing exactly who he was, and when they chose to keep deviating, Allah let their hearts settle into the deviation they had chosen.

A reflection

A tilt, not a push from outside

Zaygh is the lexicons' word for a tilt or lean, the same root used for the sun's decline as it leans away from its highest point in the sky, zāghat al-shams. Applied to a heart, it describes a drift away from being upright rather than a sudden, total collapse: the same heart, leaning, little by little, off the line it was on.

The sequence in this ayah is exact and worth reading slowly: falammā zāghū azāgha Allāhu qulūbahum, so when they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate. Their own tilt comes first, named with the same root before Allah's response to it is named at all. What follows is not described as an arbitrary imposition from outside on people who were otherwise standing straight. It is a settling into the lean they had already begun themselves, confirmed rather than originated.

This is also, by the same root, the exact word the Quran later puts into the mouths of sincere believers as a plea: our Lord, do not let our hearts deviate after You have guided us (3:8). The request only makes sense against a backdrop where deviation is a real possibility, a lean any heart can begin, asked against in advance precisely because it is a drift that starts small and only afterwards becomes a direction a person is no longer travelling back from easily.

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.