يَأْنِ
Ya’ni · from أَنَى
The verb describes something reaching its utmost limit in ripeness, maturity, or completion: fruit ripens, a crop matures, a pot becomes fully cooked, or heat reaches full intensity. The endpoint is reached.
The heart cannot wait
Has the time not come?
أَلَمْ يَأْنِ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَن تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ وَلَا يَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلُ فَطَالَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَمَدُ فَقَسَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ ۖ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ
“Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts should become humbly submissive to the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth? And let them not be like those who were given the Scripture before, and a long period passed over them, so their hearts hardened; and many of them are defiantly disobedient”.
Immediate commitment
Humility before revelation
Protection from a hardened heart
The fourth section of Surah Al-Hadid
The appointed moment has arrived.
This section begins with “Has the time not come?” and ends with the command to race to forgiveness. Its movement is urgent: waiting, delay, and procrastination must give way to commitment now. Ayah 20 stands within this section as an expansive portrayal of worldly life.
أَلَمْ يَأْنِ
تَرَبَّصْتُمْ
Tarabbastum · waiting and delay
The hypocrites previously procrastinated, delayed, and waited. أَلَمْ يَأْنِ overturns that posture: there is no remaining time for delay; the demand is immediate commitment.
The lexical distinction
أَنَى implies the actual reaching of the endpoint. The separate verb آنَ can be used for approaching the time of something. Ustadh Nu’man understands the expression in the sense of almost reaching the endpoint; the distinction between the two verbs places أَنَى at actual arrival.
The range of the address
Every person beneath the label of belief is called.
The expression “those who have believed” encompasses the full range of people identified as believers in worldly life and places all of them under the same urgent summons.
The verbal expression
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
The verbal form encompasses everyone who comes under the label of believers in this world: the truest believers, those with a lower level of iman, and those with compromised iman who claim belief, including hypocrites.
The noun forms
الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ
The noun form carries permanence of state and condition. Earlier in the surah, it identifies the true male and female believers whose light comes forth on the Day of Judgement.
A call to continue and a warning not to fall short
The address reaches all believers as an exhortation to persist in obedience to Allah and as a warning against deficiency. The previous ayah’s four steps toward hypocrisy stand opposite to khushoo’, with arrogance and the absence of humility at their root.
Tafsir of Ar-Razi · The audiences addressed
Hypocrites
Hypocrisy in the heart contradicts khushoo’, and true belief cannot exist without the heart’s humility.
Believers lacking softness
A group among the believers lacks khushoo’ and softness and is urged to correct that state.
Believers whose intensity diminished
A people once possessed great khushoo’, then its intensity diminished, and they are urged to return to their former state.
Al-Qurtubi · Further readings of the address
Al-Qurtubi presents the view that the ayah addresses the hypocrites. He also presents the view that it addresses Jews and Christians who believe in the Tawrah and the Injeel, calling them to soften their hearts toward the Qur’an.
The required state of the heart
Khushoo’ lowers the heart and brings it to stillness.
The heart softens, lowers itself, relinquishes pride, and settles before Allah’s remembrance and revealed truth.
أَن تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ
That their hearts have khushoo’
تَخْشَعَ comes from خَشَعَ and the noun خُشُوع. Its core meaning is lowering or sinking down together with stillness.
Lowered and settled
A wall that collapses and becomes level with the ground and a camel’s hump that lowers are described as خَاشِع: lowered, then settled.
Soft and receptive
The خَاشِع earth is soft and flat enough for the winds to stir it. Humility carries this softness and receptivity into the inner life.
Humility without pride
A humble person softens and lowers himself and his pride. Khushoo’ therefore stands opposite to تَكَبُّر, arrogance, and كِبْر, pride.
خُشُوع
Soft humility
Lowered, still, receptive
قَسْوَة
Hard rigidity
Dry, resistant, unfeeling
No resistance to remembrance or truth
The khushoo’ of the heart toward the remembrance of Allah and what He revealed of the truth is softness and humility expressed through acceptance, submission, and obedience. The heart offers no resistance to Allah’s remembrance or to following what He revealed.
Remembrance and revealed truth
Dhikr must reach the heart.
The phrase carries several complementary readings centered on remembrance, reverence, the Qur’an, and the heart’s response.
لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ
For the remembrance of Allah and what came down of the truth
وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ refers to the Qur’an. The phrase “from the truth” indicates that each revelation is a portion of the vast, infinite Truth of Allah.
- At the time of dhikr: the hearts soften and become humble while remembrance is being undertaken. Khushoo’ becomes the result of dhikr.
- At Allah’s reminders: the heart softens before His admonitions, commands, and verses of the Qur’an.
- Dhikr as the Qur’an: the revealed recitation itself awakens humility within the heart.
- For the sake of remembering Allah: the heart becomes humble out of reverence for Him.
Tafsir of Ar-Razi
“The Dhikr must lead them to have Khushoo’ and they should not be like those whose Dhikr (remembrance) is undertaken in a careless manner”.
Ibn ‘Ashour · Tafsir
It is also possible that both descriptions (i.e. ‘The Dhikr of Allah’ and ‘What came down from the truth’) refer to the Qur’an, as an honouring of it, by indicating that it is the remembrance of Allah, and as a clarification of its benefit, by indicating that it has come down from Allah and that it is the Truth. Accordingly, His statement وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ “And what came down from the truth” is an additional attribute joined to the Qur’an.
Al-Alousiy · Al-Teebiy
Al-Teebiy said: It is possible to take الذِّكر (Adh-Dhikr) as referring to the Qur’an, and وما نزل من الحق “What came down from the truth” as referring to the descent of Sakeenah (Tranquillity) alongside it i.e., the tranquillity that accompanies the Qur’an which goes into the hearts.
The warning of history
Distance from revelation hardens the heart over time.
The believers are forbidden from becoming like those who received Scripture before them and then allowed a long period to pass until their hearts became hard.
Two grammatical readings, one urgent warning
وَلَا يَكُونُوا can follow the opening construction: “Hasn’t the time come for them not to be like those who had been given the book before?” It can also stand as a separate forbiddance: “And they should not be like those who had been given the book before.” Connected to “Hasn’t the time come?!”, it can indicate that the process of becoming like them has already begun.
Those who had been given the Book
الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ
This Qur’anic expression refers to Jews and Christians as recipients of a book without itself denoting their knowledge of it or commitment to it.
People of the Book
أَهْلُ الكِتَاب
Ustadh Nu’man understands “People of the Book” as those qualified and knowledgeable in the book. On this distinction, inherited religious identification places a person among those given the book, while a rabbi or priest belongs among the People of the Book.
01 · Separation
Revelation becomes distant
The masses lose direct access to their books.
02 · Mediation
Access becomes exclusive
Religious leaders and scholars become the people’s only route to the book.
03 · Duration
A long period passes
Distance from the Prophets and guidance grows over time.
04 · Condition
The heart hardens
The heart resists accepting and following guidance.
The softened heart
Closeness to the Qur’an and revelation preserves humility, receptivity, acceptance, submission, and obedience.
The believers must maintain a direct relationship with revelation so that their hearts remain soft.
The hardened heart
قَسَتْ comes from the root قسو, the verb قَسَا, and the noun قَسْوَةٌ: hardness and rigidity.
Like hard, dry land on which nothing grows, the hardened heart becomes barren and incapable of growth and flourishing.
Al-Qurtubi · Tafsir · Ibn Al‑Mubarak · Malik bin Anas
Ibn Al‑Mubarak mentioned: Malik bin Anas informed us, saying: “It reached me that ‘Isa (as) said to his people: “Do not speak a lot without making the remembrance of Allah Most High, lest your hearts grow hard. That is because the hard heart is far from Allah, but you do not know”.
From inner condition to outward rebellion
The absence of khushoo’ ends in fisq.
The ayah begins with the heart’s humility and ends with defiant disobedience. The outward violation grows from an inward loss of softness.
وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ
And many of them are Faasiqoon
فَاسِقُونَ comes from فَسَقَ and the nouns فِسْق and فُسُوق. Its core meaning revolves around departure and separation. A person departs from Allah’s command by disobeying, violating His limits, and going outside obedience to Him.
Root Absence of khushoo’ toward revelation
Inner condition Hardness and resistance in the heart
Symptom Fisq, rebellion, and sinful conduct
Tafsir of Ar-Razi
“Then He said: وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ “And many of them are Faasiqoon”, meaning: Those who have gone outside of their Deen, rejecting what is contained in the two Scriptures. It is as though this is an indication that the absence of Khushoo’ (humbleness) at the beginning leads to Fisq (rebelliousness and disobedience) in the end”.
The heart is the root cause
Rebellion against Allah’s commands and sinful behaviour result from a heart that does not humble itself before revelation and instead becomes hard.
Fisq is the visible symptom
Outward defiance reveals the inward condition. Repair begins by restoring khushoo’, softness, and submission within the heart.
أَن تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ
The time for the heart to submit is now.
The ayah calls every believer away from delay, pride, distance, and spiritual rigidity. Remembrance and revealed truth must enter the heart as humility, acceptance, submission, and obedience. Continuous closeness to the Qur’an protects the heart from hardness and its final expression in defiant disobedience.