Al-Jinn · Makki · ayah 14 of 28

Al-Jinn 72:14

وَأَنَّا مِنَّا ٱلْمُسْلِمُونَ وَمِنَّا ٱلْقَـٰسِطُونَ ۖ فَمَنْ أَسْلَمَ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ تَحَرَّوْا۟ رَشَدًا

“And among us are Muslims [in submission to Allāh], and among us are the unjust.[1770] And whoever has become Muslim - those have sought out the right course.”

Saheeh International

Essence

After the hearing, the jinn's spectrum becomes a fork: some handed themselves over to their rightful Owner, others kept back what was never theirs.

A reflection

Not a box on a form, but a handing over

A nineteen-year-old fills in her university enrolment online. Name, date of birth, course. Then a drop-down menu: Religion. She selects 'Muslim' in half a second, the way she would pick her nationality. It is true, and it costs her nothing.

That is how most of us hear the word in this ayah: a label, the name of a team. 'Among us are the Muslims, and among us are…' and we expect the other box. The non-Muslims. The others.

The ayah fills the other box with something unexpected: al-qāsiṭūn, those who swerve and act unjustly. The root holds justice and its theft in one build. Qasaṭa is to take another's share. Aqsaṭa, with a prefix one lexicon reads as removing, is to give him his. The plain verb is the theft.

So the opposite of submission, here, is a kind of injustice. The commentators say what kind. One early reading: these are the ones who set up rivals to Allah. Others: those who swerved from the truth and the straight road. The Quran elsewhere calls associating partners with Allah 'a great injustice' (31:13). It takes what belongs to Him, worship and gratitude and final trust, and hands it to something else.

Now look again at the first word. Muslim comes from aslama, to hand something over. The root's basic picture is soundness and safety. Its oldest greeting, salām, meant: I come in peace, there is no war between us. A muslim has handed himself over to his rightful Owner, and become whole by it.

Set side by side, the two words describe two transactions. One gives everything back to its rightful owner. The other keeps back what was never his to keep.

That changes the drop-down box. It does not stop being true. But it stops being finished. The jinn did not inherit the word as a category. They heard, and then they handed themselves over (72:13). It describes something done, and something that can be done again today.

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.