Surah Ya-Sin 36:66
سُورَةُ يسٓ · Meccan · Verse 66 of 83
وَلَوْ نَشَآءُ لَطَمَسْنَا عَلَىٰٓ أَعْيُنِهِمْ فَٱسْتَبَقُوا۟ ٱلصِّرَٰطَ فَأَنَّىٰ يُبْصِرُونَ
Translation
If it had been Our will, We could have taken away their sight. They would have struggled to find the way, but how could they have seen it?
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'If We willed, We could erase their eyes, and they would race to the path, but how could they see?' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the reminder folded into the threat: the sight I rely on to find my way is not a possession but a granted faculty, withdrawable in an instant. Even the ability to look for the path is a gift. Ask yourself: I assume I'll always be able to see my way, to assess, to find the exit, to figure it out. This verse quietly notes that the very eyes doing that are on loan. If the faculty I trust most to navigate could be closed at any moment, does that make me more grateful for the seeing I have now, and more urgent to use it, while I can, to actually find the path?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Ya-Sin 36:66 is discussed in 2 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Ya-Sin 36:66 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.