Al-Mursalat · Makki · ayah 49 of 50

Al-Mursalat 77:49

وَيْلٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِّلْمُكَذِّبِينَ

“Woe, that Day, to the deniers.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The tenth and final "woe that Day to the deniers" — closing a refusal to bow, and closing, for good, the longest refrain in the Quran.

A reflection

The last of ten, closing the smallest refusal

This exact line was first met at 77:15, and its full treatment lives there. Nine returns have come before this one, each closing a different case — history, the body, the earth, mountains and water, fire, silence, challenge, reward, a careless meal. This tenth and final return closes the smallest-seeming scene of all: a bare refusal to bend at the waist when asked.

There is a quiet design in ending the sequence here rather than on a more dramatic scene. The surah began its case for resurrection with grand, undeniable signs — creation, history, the body's own formation — and closes its refrain on the single smallest, most ordinary act a person could be asked to perform. That arc argues something by itself: the case was never really about the size of the evidence. It was always about whether a person was willing to bend at all, however little bending was actually required.

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.