Al-Qalam · Makki · ayah 9 of 52

Al-Qalam 68:9

وَدُّوا۟ لَوْ تُدْهِنُ فَيُدْهِنُونَ

“They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you].”

Saheeh International

Essence

They did not want to argue you out of the truth; they wanted to oil you into something softer, so they could soften too.

A reflection

Worked soft, like oiled leather

Tudhinu comes from duhn, oil, the substance rubbed into a hide until its stiffness gives way to a slick, yielding softness. From that single physical picture the lexicons draw the word's figurative sense: mudāhana is working a man over, patiently, gently, repeatedly, until his firm stand softens, all while the one applying the pressure shows a friendly face that hides what they actually intend.

That image is sharper than 'compromise' or 'soften,' the usual translations, quite manage to carry. Oil does not break leather. It does not confront it or argue with it. It simply works into the grain, again and again, until the hide that once held a shape no longer resists being shaped into something else. Nothing dramatic happens in any single application. The change is cumulative, patient, and almost impossible to notice happening in real time, which is exactly what makes it effective where open argument would fail.

This is precisely the method named in the ayah. The deniers were not trying to out-argue a position they could not actually answer; the surrounding ayat already show the Prophet ﷺ had been offered no persuasive counter-case at all. They were trying to oil him: friendly contact, small concessions requested, warm relations extended, each one small enough to seem unreasonable to refuse, each one another drop of oil worked into ground that had, until then, held firm.

Recognising this pattern matters for reasons that outlast seventh-century Makkah entirely. Few people today will ever face an argument strong enough to talk them out of a settled conviction. Many will face, slowly and without quite noticing, the oil.

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.