Al-Layl · Makki · ayah 11 of 21

Al-Layl 92:11

وَمَا يُغْنِى عَنْهُ مَالُهُۥٓ إِذَا تَرَدَّىٰٓ

“And what will his wealth avail him when he falls?[1938]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Everything the withholder saved stays on the ledge; when he goes over the edge, not one coin of it can stand in for him.

A reflection

One word, four ways down

In a hospital, after a death, a nurse fills a small clear bag with what the patient had on him. A wristwatch, a wedding ring, a phone, a pair of reading glasses. She labels it for the family. Everything he carried in this morning stays behind in the bag. He does not.

Taraddā is a word that falls. The Arabs used its root for a beast tumbling into a well or over a cliff. An animal killed that way was a mutaraddiya (5:3). A heavy stone for breaking rock was a mirdāh. The early commentators heard several falls in this one verb. One said simply: when he dies. Another, preferred by one great commentator: when he tumbles into Hell, because 'falling' is the common use of the word. A third: when he goes down into the hollow of the grave. One group even heard the cloak, ridāʾ, from the same letters: when he is wrapped in his shroud.

Put the four pictures side by side and they form a single descent. He dies; he is wrapped; he is lowered; and, if his road was the hard one, he falls further. At no point on the way down can his wealth go with him.

The verb before it makes that exact. Yughnī comes from the root for being enough, and it means to stand in for someone or to suffice for him. Wealth spent its whole life standing in for things: for security, status, comfort and safety. At the edge it cannot stand in for anything.

The Quran describes the arrival plainly. 'You have come to Us alone, as We created you the first time'. And 'you have left behind you all We bestowed on you' (6:94). Everything in the clear bag was real. None of it was his to keep.

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.