Surah Al-Kahf 18:75
سُورَةُ الكَهۡفِ · Meccan · Verse 75 of 110
۞ قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُل لَّكَ إِنَّكَ لَن تَسْتَطِيعَ مَعِىَ صَبْرًۭا
Translation
He replied, ‘Did I not tell you that you would never be able to bear with me patiently?’
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'He said: Did I not tell you that you would not be able to have patience with me?' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the exact repetition of the warning, now with emphasis ('laka', to you specifically), underscoring that this failure was entirely foreseeable, the predictable result of watching the incomprehensible without the whole picture. Ask yourself: the identical reminder returns because the pattern is identical, confronted with what I cannot understand, my patience breaks again, in the very same way. The repetition is itself the lesson: my failures of trust are not one-offs but a pattern I keep repeating whenever God's decree confounds me. Recognising the pattern is the beginning of changing it. How many times has God, in effect, said to me 'did I not tell you?', as I break, yet again, over an event whose wisdom I simply cannot yet see?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Kahf 18:75 is discussed in 4 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
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