Al-Mursalat · Makki · ayah 46 of 50

Al-Mursalat 77:46

كُلُوا۟ وَتَمَتَّعُوا۟ قَلِيلًا إِنَّكُم مُّجْرِمُونَ

“[O disbelievers], eat and enjoy yourselves a little; indeed, you are criminals.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The same two words once spoken to the mindful in Paradise — eat, enjoy — are handed here to the deniers too, with one devastating word quietly added: a little.

A reflection

The same invitation, with its expiry stamped on it

A few ayat earlier, the mindful were told, with no qualification at all, to eat and drink in full satisfaction for what they used to do. Here, the deniers are told almost the same thing — eat, enjoy yourselves — in this present life, not the next. One classical commentary is direct about what has been added: "a little," meaning a little of time, ending at death, and the whole phrase carries a built-in threat precisely because of how short that window is named to be.

The parallel is exact enough to be unmistakable, and that is the entire point. Both groups are invited, in nearly identical language, to eat. One invitation has no limit attached to it at all; the other has its limit stated plainly, inside the very sentence offering the pleasure. The deniers are not denied enjoyment outright, which would be easier to argue with. They are handed it freely, and told, in the same breath, exactly how little of it there actually is.

That is sharper than a simple refusal would have been. Being told no to a pleasure can be resented as unfair. Being handed the pleasure, with its own small size announced in advance, removes even that argument — nothing was refused, only correctly sized.

There is a further detail in how deliberately the two scenes are paired. The surah did not need to use the same opening verb for both invitations; it could easily have described worldly enjoyment with entirely different language, avoiding the echo altogether. Choosing the same word on purpose, for both audiences, is what makes the single word "a little" carry so much weight here — it is the one place the two otherwise matching sentences actually diverge.

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.