Surah Ar-Rahman 55:41
سُورَةُ الرَّحۡمَٰن · Medinan · Verse 41 of 78
يُعْرَفُ ٱلْمُجْرِمُونَ بِسِيمَٰهُمْ فَيُؤْخَذُ بِٱلنَّوَٰصِى وَٱلْأَقْدَامِ
Translation
The guilty will be known by their mark and will be seized by their foreheads and their feet.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'The guilty will be known by their marks, and seized by the forelocks and the feet.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the image: no trial of evidence is needed, the criminals are recognisable at a glance, and taken by the very forelock (the front of the head, seat of pride and will) and the feet that walked them into wrong. Ask yourself: the forelock is where I 'hold my head high'; the feet are what carry me toward what I choose. This verse pictures both, my pride and my direction, becoming the handles by which I'm held to account. It presses an uncomfortable question: the head I lift in arrogance and the feet that carry me toward the wrong door, are they writing a 'mark' on me that will one day be legible at a single glance?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Ar-Rahman 55:41 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
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