At-Takwir · Makki · ayah 25 of 29

At-Takwir 81:25

وَمَا هُوَ بِقَوْلِ شَيْطَـٰنٍ رَّجِيمٍ

“And it [i.e., the Qur’ān] is not the word of a devil, expelled [from the heavens].”

Saheeh International

Essence

The Quran is not a pelted devil's word: no devil could carry it, none would want to, and every recitation begins by driving him off.

A reflection

'We will never ask for your PIN'

Every genuine bank letter carries the same line somewhere: 'We will never ask you for your PIN or password'. A scam message never includes it. The real source warns you against the fake; the fake has no interest in doing so.

The Quraysh claimed that a devil was feeding the Prophet ﷺ his words, as the jinn were believed to feed soothsayers. A sceptic today might put it differently: how do you know the source was good? This ayah answers with a flat denial, and another surah gives the reasons. 'The devils did not bring it down. It does not befit them, and they are not able. They are kept far from hearing it' (26:210–212).

A classical scholar spells out what that means. A devil does not want to deliver such a message, would not be suited to it, and could not if he tried. Anyone who knows anything of devils, madmen and liars sees the contrast with the messengers, he says. It is as clear as light and dark to the eye.

Look at the Quran's own content. It commands prayer, honesty, kindness to parents, justice to enemies. It forbids exactly what devils promote. And it tells every reader, before reciting a single ayah, to 'seek refuge in Allah from the devil, the pelted one' (16:98). A devil dictating a book would not open it with a warning against himself.

What remains open for each honest reader is the test itself: read, and judge the fruit. What is clear is the direction of the text. Like the bank letter, it spends its first breath protecting you from the very impostor it is accused of being.

The devil's aim, the Quran says, is to make people far from Allah. This book, from its first page to its last, calls them near.

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.