Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:87
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 87 of 96
تَرْجِعُونَهَآ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ
Translation
do you not restore his soul to him, if what you say is true?
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'...return the soul, if you are truthful.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the devastating challenge that unmasks all human pretension to control, 'tarji'unaha in kuntum sadiqin': if you really run your own life and answer to no one, then at the deathbed of your loved one, put the soul back. And of course, no one can. Ask yourself: this is the moment that exposes every illusion of my self-sufficiency. For all my planning, wealth, medicine, and will, I cannot hold a single soul in its body one second past its time, not my own, not anyone's. The verse doesn't argue; it simply hands me the proof: I was never the master I imagined. Recognising, honestly, that I cannot even keep breath in a body I love, does that finally dissolve the pride of living as though I were in charge, and turn me toward the One who actually is?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:87 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 Al-Waqi'ah 56:87 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.