Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:46
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 46 of 96
وَكَانُوا۟ يُصِرُّونَ عَلَى ٱلْحِنثِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ
Translation
and persisted in great sin,
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'And they used to persist in the great sin.' al-Saadi and Ibn Ashur note the second cause, 'yusirruna 'ala al-hinth al-'azim': not a stumble but persistence, a stubborn insistence on the gravest wrong (associating others with God, breaking the covenant). Ask yourself: the two causes together are chilling, comfort (verse 45) plus persistence in wrong. It was not the sin alone but the digging-in, the refusal to reconsider, the making-a-home in it. This is the difference between a person who falls and rises and one who falls and settles. It presses the most searching question: is there a wrong in my life I have stopped fighting, that I have quietly decided to keep, to build around, to persist in? A sin repented is a stumble; a sin persisted in is a direction.
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:46 is discussed in 5 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-Waqi'ah 56:46 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.