Ad-Duhaa · Makki · ayah 3 of 11

Ad-Duhaa 93:3

مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَىٰ

“Your Lord has not taken leave of you, [O Muḥammad], nor has He detested [you].”

Saheeh International

Essence

In your silent season your Lord has not said goodbye to you, and He has not turned against you.

A reflection

Answered in the mockers' own word

Mā waddaʿaka rabbuka wa-mā qalā is printed on cards and phone screens as a gentle, general comfort. Your Lord has not forsaken you. It reads like a soft thought for a bad day.

It was first something sharper: an answer to a jeer, in the jeer's own word. Al-Tirmidhi records the version in which Jibrīl (as) was slow to come and the idolaters said: qad wuddiʿa Muḥammad, Muhammad has been bidden farewell. He grades it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ. The reply takes their verb and turns it round. Mā waddaʿaka: He has not bidden you farewell.

One classical commentator asked an honest question about this. Would a king ever say to his closest companion, 'I do not hate you'? Unprompted, it would be a strange thing to say. But suppose enemies have spread it about the court that the king now hates his favourite, and the favourite is grieving. Then no sentence honours him more than this one, said in public. I have not left you, I do not hate you, and you will see your place with me.

That is what the first hearers witnessed. The rumour had been loud for days. The answer came in the rumour's own vocabulary, so that no one could miss what was being denied.

Picture a new nursery assistant who hears from parents at the gate that she is about to be let go. Next morning, at drop-off, the manager says to every parent there: there is a story going round. It is not true. She is staying, and the children adore her.

That is the force of this ayah. Not a mood. A public reversal.

The full entry has 7 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.