The 365 · Verses · Day 302 · Self-Accountability
Iqtaraba. The Reckoning has APPROACHED. Not is coming. Has approached. And we, the people, are turning away. The verse describes today.
Qur'an Qur'ān 21:1 (al-Anbiyāʾ)
ٱقْتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ حِسَابُهُمْ وَهُمْ فِى غَفْلَةٍ مُّعْرِضُونَ
“Approached for the people is their reckoning, while they are in heedlessness turning away.”
Svenska: Nära människorna har deras räkenskap närmat sig, medan de i likgiltighet vänder sig bort.
The story
Sūrat al-Anbiyāʾ opens with this verse. The surah is named for the prophets and proceeds to retell their lives. But the opening is not a story; it is a warning. Before any prophet's story, Allah names the human condition that makes the stories necessary: the reckoning has approached, and the people are heedless.
In the language
Iqtaraba: an emphatic past tense, has approached, has drawn near. Not yaqtarib (is approaching) but iqtaraba (HAS approached). The reckoning is no longer in the future; it has crossed into the present. Ghaflah: heedlessness, distraction, asleep-while-awake. Muʿriḍūn: actively turning away. The double indictment: not only are we heedless, we are turning away from what would alert us.
Why this verse
The opening of an entire surah, and what does Allah lead with? The diagnosis of the human condition. The Hour is near. Humanity is asleep. The whole surah of prophets is offered as the wake-up call. The verse is the first verse the heart should encounter when opening the surah of guidance.
Bring it into today
Day four. The cluster's climax. The verse is a divine alarm. The Hour has approached; we are heedless; we are turning away. Today: stop turning away. Read one page of Qur'an. Make one duʿāʾ. Let the alarm have an effect.
A reflection to carry
Notice the grammar. Iqtaraba is past tense. The Reckoning has already arrived in some sense; what remains is its visible manifestation. The verse is not predicting a far event; it is naming a current reality. The Hour, in cosmic time, has already drawn near. And humanity, in personal time, is sleeping through it. The verse is Allah's mercy: He shakes the sleeper before the alarm becomes the verdict. The believer reads this verse and feels the urgency. The disbeliever reads it and turns to the next thing on his screen. Which one are you today?
Read the longer reflection
The Prophet ﷺ said: I and the Hour are like these two, and he held up his index and middle fingers (Bukhārī, Muslim). The closeness is what most of humanity does not feel. The Salaf felt it. ʿUmar would weep when he heard verses of the Hour. Abū Bakr's hair turned white from the verse: fa-staqim kamā umirta (11:112), so remain upright as you were commanded. The Companions did not need to be shaken twice. We need to be shaken every day, and even then we forget by evening. The verse is the daily shake. Iqtaraba. Has approached. So tonight, when you lie down, ask: if it is tonight, am I prepared? If the answer is no, fix one thing before sleep. A tawbah you have been postponing. A reconciliation you have been delaying. A salah you have been rushing. Just one. The verse is the alarm; the action is yours. Yā Allāh, do not let the Reckoning catch us turning away. Pull our faces back to You while there is still mercy. Wake us, gently or harshly, but do not let us sleep through the approach. Āmīn.
Sources: Ibn Kathir, Tabari, Saadi, Qurtubi. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
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