'Abasa · Makki · ayah 1 of 42

'Abasa 80:1

عَبَسَ وَتَوَلَّىٰٓ

“He [i.e., the Prophet (ﷺ) ] frowned and turned away”

Saheeh International

Essence

A surah opens by correcting the best of creation over one blind seeker, and even the correction is spoken with courtesy.

A reflection

Spoken of before being spoken to

Picture the scene as the reports give it. The Prophet ﷺ is sitting with leading men of Quraysh. He is calling them to Allah, and he has real hope. If men like these accept, many who follow them will accept too. A blind man arrives and keeps asking to be taught from what Allah has taught him. In one report he says simply, 'Guide me'. The Prophet ﷺ frowns, turns from him, and goes back to the guests.

Now listen to how Allah tells it. Not 'you frowned', but ʿabasa wa-tawallā: he frowned and turned away. The opening speaks of him in the third person, the way one speaks of someone who is not in the room.

The sources read this in two ways, and both are worth holding. One reading hears honour in it. The pronoun keeps him at a little distance from the act, as if such a thing could not really be his. Only in the third ayah does the speech turn to face him. It comes softly, as a question that begins 'And what would make you know'. That turn, one source says, is to put him at ease. The other reading hears the reverse. It is like someone who first describes a wrong to others, then turns to the one who did it and addresses him directly. On that reading the turn sharpens the reproach.

Perhaps the two readings are not rivals. Real love corrects exactly like this: seriously enough that it stings, gently enough that it does not crush.

Think of a mother whose eleven-year-old left the garden gate open, and the dog ran into the road. At dinner she says, 'Someone left the gate open today, and we nearly lost him.' She lets the sentence sit. Then she turns to her son and asks, 'What could we do next time?' He knows exactly who she meant. She never had to say his name, and he never had to lose his face.

The Beloved ﷺ is corrected in a way that protects him even as it corrects him. And the one he is corrected for is a blind man. As far as the reports tell us, he never knew what that face had done.

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.