15:75

إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَأٓيَٰتٖ لِّلۡمُتَوَسِّمِينَ

Inna fee thalika laayatin lilmutawassimeena

Indeed in that are signs for those who discern.

Word by word
  1. إِنَّIndeed
  2. فِيin
  3. ذَٰلِكَthat
  4. لَأٓيَٰتٖ(are) the Signs
  5. لِّلۡمُتَوَسِّمِينَfor those who discern
Al-Hijr · 15:75Makkah

Signs for those who look closely.

The ones with insight


Who benefits
the ruinsstill visible
are signs for
those who discerneyes and heart open
Two ways to see ruins
old stonesa tourist stop
a lessonread with insight

Ibn Kathir says the traces are visible to anyone who ponders, with physical eyesight or mental and spiritual insight. Mujahid said those who discern means those who have insight and discernment; Qatadah said those who learn lessons.

You watch a documentary about a collapsed empire, or drive past a closed factory that once employed your whole town. Most people see buildings. A discerning person sees a lesson.

History is just what happened to other people.

The traces of past peoples are signs for whoever looks with insight.

Try this

Next time you pass a ruin or an abandoned place, pause and ask what it teaches you.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 15:73)

So the Sayhah overtook them at the time of sunrise (73)And We turned them upside down and rained stones of baked clay upon them (74)Surely, in this are signs for those who see (75)And verily, they were right on the highroad (76)Surely, there is indeed a sign in that for the believers (77)

The Destruction of the People of Lut

Allah said;

فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الصَّيْحَةُ

(So the Sayhah overtook them) This is the piercing sound that came to them when the sun rose, which was accompanied by the city being flipped upside down, and stones of baked clay (As-Sijjil) raining down upon them. The discussion of As-Sijjil in Surah Hud is a sufficient explanation. Allah said:

إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّلْمُتَوَسِّمِينَ

(Surely, in this are signs for those who see.) meaning that the traces of the destruction of that city are easily visible to any one who ponder about it, whether they look at it with physical eyesight or mental and spiritual insight, as Mujahid said concerning the phrase,

لِّلْمُتَوَسِّمِينَ

(those who see) he said, "those who have insight and discernment." It was reported from Ibn 'Abbas and Ad-Dahhak that it referred to those who look. Qatadah said: "those who learn lessons".

The City of Sodom on the Highroad

وَإِنَّهَا لَبِسَبِيلٍ مُّقِيمٍ

(And verily, they were right on the highroad.) meaning that the city of Sodom, which was physically and spiritually turned upside down, and pelted with stones until it became a foul smelling lake (the Dead Sea), is on a route that is easily accessible until the present day. This is like the Ayah,

وَإِنَّكُمْ لَتَمُرُّونَ عَلَيْهِم مُّصْبِحِينَ - وَبِاللَّيْلِ ۗ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ

(Verily, you pass by them in the morning, and at night. Will you not then reflect?)(37:137-138).

إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

(Surely, there is indeed a sign in that for the believers.) meaning, 'All that We did to the people of Lut, from the destruction and the vengeance, to how We saved Lut and his family, these are clear signs to those who believe in Allah and His Messengers.'