Surah Al-Baqarah 2:15
سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ · Medinan · Verse 15 of 286
ٱللَّهُ يَسْتَهْزِئُ بِهِمْ وَيَمُدُّهُمْ فِى طُغْيَٰنِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ
Translation
God is mocking them, and allowing them more slack to wander blindly in their insolence.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'God mocks them, and prolongs them in their transgression, wandering blindly.' al-Saadi and Ibn Kathir note the just response, those who made a mockery of faith are themselves left in a mockery of a life: given rope, 'yamudduhum', extended in their rebellion while they wander lost, mistaking the delay for success. Ask yourself: their punishment fits precisely, the mockers are made to wander blindly, and the very continuation of their comfortable transgression is the sentence, not a reprieve. It warns me against reading my own unpunished drift as evidence I'm fine: sometimes being 'left alone' to wander is not mercy but being given enough rope. The uninterrupted ability to keep transgressing can be the most dangerous state of all, a blindness I mistake for freedom. Is the smoothness of a wrong path I'm on really God's approval, or the ominous quiet of being left to wander?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Ashur.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:15 is discussed in 10 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Baqarah 2:15 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.