Al-Mutaffifin · Makki · ayah 35 of 36

Al-Mutaffifin 83:35

عَلَى ٱلْأَرَآئِكِ يَنظُرُونَ

“On adorned couches, observing.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those once called lost are seated in honour, looking, and the highest sight before them is the One they were guided to.

A reflection

The answer to "lost"

These exact words appeared twelve ayat earlier (83:23). There they followed the promise of bliss. Here they follow the reversal of the mockery. The same sentence, placed in a new setting, answers a new question.

A classical scholar of the heart draws out what it answers. The mockers had said of the believers, 'These people are lost' (83:32). Now the believers are 'looking', and the ayah does not say at what. The looking is left open, he says, and the highest and greatest thing they look at is Allah Himself. Looking at Him is the finest kind of seeing, and the highest rank of guidance there is.

So the reply to 'lost' is not an argument. It is a sight. The people who were told they had no road are shown where the road ended: in front of their Lord.

Another commentator reads this looking as the believers watching the mockers in their new state. The ayah can hold both. They see the justice of what happened, and they see the One who did it.

For anyone memorising, this is a helpful pair. Both ayat read ʿalā al-arāʾiki yanẓurūn. In 83:23 it comes after naʿīm, bliss. In 83:35 it comes after yaḍḥakūn, laughing. Bliss, then looking. Laughter, then looking.

Whatever the believers were called in this world, their story ends with their eyes open and resting on what matters most. That is the fullest answer to anyone who ever called them lost.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.