Al-Layl · Makki · ayah 17 of 21

Al-Layl 92:17

وَسَيُجَنَّبُهَا ٱلْأَتْقَى

“But the righteous one will avoid it –”

Saheeh International

Essence

The one who spent his life stepping aside from harm will himself be set aside from the Fire, kept at a distance by Another.

A reflection

He always pulled over for the ambulance

For thirty years a delivery driver has pulled over whenever he hears a siren. Sometimes he mounts the kerb to make room. His colleagues tease him for losing minutes on every round. One winter he collapses at a depot, and he is the one in the back of the ambulance. On the way to the hospital, car after car pulls aside to let him through.

'And the most mindful will be kept away from it'. The verb yujannabuhā is passive: he will be made to stand to one side of it. The root has two close branches, the side of a thing and keeping at a distance. The Arabs said a man ijtanaba something when he stepped to one side of it and kept it there. Commentators gloss the ayah simply: he will be kept far from it, moved away from it, put on a side apart from it.

Notice the fit between the man and his reward. Al-atqā comes from taqwā, which is putting a shield between yourself and harm and keeping clear of the edge. So the person who spent his life stepping aside from what Allah forbade is, at the end, stepped aside himself. His life was a long ijtināb, a keeping to the side of harm. His reward is a tajnīb, being kept to the side of the Fire.

And the passive matters. He does not dodge the blaze by his own skill. He is set aside by Allah, the way the cars pulled over for the man who had pulled over for others. Every small act of keeping clear was a preparation for being kept clear.

So the daily choices that look minor are not minor. The glance you looked away from, the word you did not say, the deal you stepped out of. Each one is practice for the side of the road you hope to be moved to on the Day.

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.