Al-Mursalat · Makki · ayah 6 of 50

Al-Mursalat 77:6

عُذْرًا أَوْ نُذْرًا

“As justification or warning,”

Saheeh International

Essence

The reminder is cast down for exactly two reasons, to excuse or to warn, because Allah would rather leave no one an argument left to make.

A reflection

No one loves an excuse more than Him

A narration preserved in both Sahihs records the Prophet ﷺ saying something easy to miss the force of on first hearing: no one loves al-'udhr, the excuse, more than Allah; it is for that very reason He sent His messengers as bringers of good news and warning. The same report adds that no one loves praise more than Him either, and for that reason He praised Himself.

Sit with how strange that sounds against ordinary human pride. A person with real power rarely goes out of their way to hand their subordinates grounds for defence. Powerful people tend to prefer the upper hand kept firmly theirs, not freely given away. Yet here is the ayah's own purpose clause, 'udhran aw nudhran, as excuse or warning, confirming that one whole reason revelation exists is so that no human being can ever honestly say, afterwards, that no one told them.

There is a real temptation to read this as weakness, as though Allah needed to justify Himself to us, the way an insecure ruler might overexplain a decision to keep restless subjects calm. The hadith closes that reading immediately: this is not insecurity, it is generosity so complete that it extends even to giving away the argument that could have been withheld. A creature who hoards every advantage over those beneath them is usually doing it from fear of losing standing. Allah, needing nothing from anyone, loses nothing by handing you grounds for excuse before judgement, and chooses to anyway. That is not a God bargaining for your belief. It is a God too great to need the upper hand kept for its own sake, and humble enough, in the one sense that word can properly apply to Him, to make sure you were warned first.

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.