caused to stray or strayed themselves
أَضْلَلْتُمْ عِبَادِى هَٰٓؤُلَآءِ أَمْ هُمْ ضَلُّوا۟
aḍlaltum ʿibādī hāʾulāʾi am hum ḍallū — Was it you who caused these My servants to stray, or did they themselves stray from the path?
In a single verse the root ḍ-l-l appears in two forms set against each other by the interrogative particle am: Form IV aḍlaltum, 'you caused to stray', and Form I ḍallū, 'they strayed', posing a question about who initiated the straying.
The verse depicts a scene of gathering in which a question is addressed to those who were served apart from Allah: “Was it you who caused these My servants to stray, or did they themselves stray from the path?” (25:17). The two verbs share the root ḍ-l-l but differ in form, and the difference carries the weight of the question. The first, aḍlaltum, is Form IV perfect, second person masculine plural: its causative form makes the addressees the agents who led others astray. The second, ḍallū, is Form I perfect, third person masculine plural: the same straying is predicated of the servants themselves as their own act. The interrogative am places the two in opposition, so the verse asks whether the straying of “these My servants” originated with the ones being questioned or with the servants. The mirror is thus asymmetrical by design: one verb transfers the action to another party, the other keeps it with the subject. The object of the first verb, ʿibādī hāʾulāʾi, 'these My servants', is the party in question, while the second verb adds its own object, al-sabīl, 'the path', with the straying specified as from the path. The verse does not answer the question it poses; it records the question as spoken in the scene of the gathering.
Where it occurs
- 25:17 The verse sets Form IV aḍlaltum ('you caused to stray') against Form I ḍallū ('they strayed') in a question about who initiated the servants' straying from the path.
All Qur'anic expressions