An-Naba · Makki · ayah 22 of 40

An-Naba 78:22

لِّلطَّـٰغِينَ مَـَٔابًا

“For the transgressors, a place of return,”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those who overflowed their bounds, like a river bursting its banks, have one place to return to; everyone returns somewhere.

A reflection

The milk that boiled over

A pan of milk sits on the hob. For ten minutes nothing happens. A skin forms, a few bubbles rise at the edge. Then, in three seconds, the whole thing surges up, over the rim, across the cooker and down the front of the oven. Milk is good. Milk that has left its bounds is a mess that takes an hour to clean.

The root of ṭāghīn holds that picture exactly. The lexicons say the Arabs used it of a torrent that came down with more water than its bed could hold. The sea ṭaghā when its waves rose and heaved; blood ṭaghā when it surged. The Quran uses it for the flood of Nūḥ: when the water overflowed, We carried you (69:11). Water is good until it leaves its bounds; then it drowns. These are established senses of the root. A lexicon of near-synonyms adds that ṭughyān goes further than mere excess. It crosses the limit in harm, overpowering others, as floodwater overwhelms a village.

The sources describe the ṭāghīn of this ayah in the same terms. They are those who overstepped the limits Allah set, in arrogance towards their Lord. One commentator says it is those who exceed all bounds in transgression. Another adds that the transgression can be in religion, through disbelief, or in worldly life, through oppression.

So the word does not describe people who slipped. It describes people who spilled. They rose above their measure and swept others away with them. The flood is not the mistake of a moment. It is a life that refused any banks.

That is worth sitting with, because the surge often begins quietly, like the milk. A little more control, a little less listening, a little more certainty that the rules are for others. Then, one day, it is over the rim.

Where are my banks? And where have I been quietly rising towards them?

The full entry has 4 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.