ﲂ ﲃ ﲄ ﲅ ﲆ ﲇ ﲈ ﲉ ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ ﲎ ﲏ ﲐ ﲑ ﲒ ﲓ ﲔ ﲕ ﲖ ﲗ ﲘ
And when waves come over them like canopies, they supplicate Allah, sincere to Him in religion. But when He delivers them to the land, there are [some] of them who are moderate [in faith]. And none rejects Our signs except everyone treacherous and ungrateful.
Tafsir
Verse range: 31:32
When Allah mentioned that there are signs in this (the previous context), He then mentioned that everyone acknowledges them. However, the insightful person perceives it first, while the one whose sight is weak does not perceive it immediately. But when a wave covers him and he falls into distress, he confesses that everything is from Allah and calls upon Him sincerely—meaning he abandons all others besides Him and forgets everyone else.
When He saves him from that distress, he remains in that state, which is what is meant by: {Then some of them are moderate} (or balanced). Alternatively, he might revert to polytheism, which is what is meant by: {And none denies Our signs except every ungrateful, unthankful one}.
In this verse, there are several issues:
The singular form is mawjan (wave), and the plural is ẓulal (shades/canopies). It is said that its meaning is like mountains, or like clouds, indicating the immense size of the wave. It can also be argued that a single, massive wave shows rising and falling motions. If you observe a single current in a large river, this becomes clear to you, making it resemble contiguous mountains.
In Al-Ankabut (The Spider), Allah says: {And when they ride in the ships, they call upon Allah} (29:65), and then: {But when He delivers them safely to the land, behold, they associate others [with Him]} (29:65). Here, however, it says: {But when He delivers them safely to the land, then some of them are moderate}.
We say: Since a great matter—a wave like mountains—was mentioned here, its effect remained in their hearts, so some of them emerged as muqtasid (moderate). This moderation could mean moderation in disbelief (having retracted somewhat from their previous state) or moderation in sincerity (some sincerity remained, but they did not maintain the level of sincerity they had before). In Al-Ankabut, the immediate experience of such a great event while riding the sea was not mentioned, so their association of partners with Allah was mentioned immediately, as no effect remained in them.
This phrase is in contrast to Allah’s statement: {Indeed, in that are signs}. This means the patient, grateful one acknowledges them, while the ungrateful, unthankful one denies them.
Al-Ṣabbār (The Patient) is balanced against Al-Khattār (The Deceitful/Ungrateful) in terms of wording and meaning. Al-Kafūr (The Unthankful) is balanced against Al-Shakūr (The Grateful) in meaning.
The balance in wording is apparent. As for the meaning: Al-Khattār is the one who is treacherous and frequently breaks covenants, or severely so. Treachery only occurs due to a lack of patience (ṣabr). For the patient person (al-ṣabūr), if he makes a covenant with someone, he will not harm them because he is patient and entrusts the matter to Allah. As for the treacherous one, he makes a covenant but lacks the patience to uphold it, so he breaks it. The opposition between Al-Kafūr and Al-Shakūr in meaning is also apparent.
