Al-Muzzammil · Makki · ayah 19 of 20

Al-Muzzammil 73:19

إِنَّ هَـٰذِهِۦ تَذْكِرَةٌ ۖ فَمَن شَآءَ ٱتَّخَذَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِۦ سَبِيلًا

“Indeed, this is a reminder, so whoever wills may take to his Lord a way.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Here, 'this' is the warning just given; the same sentence that closes a chapter of reward elsewhere closes a passage of fear here, and still opens the same road.

A reflection

A reminder that follows fear, not favour

This exact sentence, word for word, closes Surah al-Insan too (76:29), where 'this' most naturally points back to an entire surah of reward: cool drink, silk, silver cups, gratitude answered in full. Al-Insan's own treatment of the ayah, read there, covers that side of it fully.

Here the same words sit in a very different position. 'This' follows directly on from the chains, the choking food, the mountains poured like sand, Pharaoh's seizure, the children's hair turning grey, the sky splitting open (73:11-18). One classical commentator glosses 'this' here as precisely those fearsome ayat just delivered, a reminder built from warning rather than from favour shown.

The sentence does not change. What it is pointing back at does. In Al-Insan, the road opens from gratitude already described. Here, it opens from terror honestly named. Both, this ayah insists, lead to the identical place: whoever wills, let him take a way to his Lord.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.