Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 62 of 111

Al-Isra 17:62

قَالَ أَرَءَيْتَكَ هَـٰذَا ٱلَّذِى كَرَّمْتَ عَلَىَّ لَئِنْ أَخَّرْتَنِ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ لَأَحْتَنِكَنَّ ذُرِّيَّتَهُۥٓ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا

“[Iblees] said, "Do You see this one whom You have honored above me? If You delay me [i.e., my death] until the Day of Resurrection, I will surely destroy[760] his descendants, except for a few."”

Saheeh International

Essence

The enemy names the honour he resents, then vows to lead Adam's children by the jaw, all but a few.

A reflection

A rope at the jaw, or locusts in the field

Translations render la-aḥtanikanna as 'I will surely destroy' or 'bring under my sway'. The Arabic holds two sharper pictures, and both come from one small part of the body.

The root's first sense is the ḥanak, the palate or the underside of the jaw. To ḥannaka a horse was to pass a rope through its lower jaw and lead it by force. A half-ton animal, stronger than any man, goes wherever the hand on that rope decides. One explanation in the commentaries puts it exactly so: I will drive them where I wish, and lead them where I want.

The second picture is iḥtanaka al-jarād al-zarʿ: the locusts stripped the crop. They did not burn it or uproot it. They ate it, mouthful by mouthful, until nothing was left. The commentaries quote an old line of verse about a drought year that stripped a tribe's wealth with the same verb.

Notice what neither picture contains: a single great blow. Iblis does not vow to defeat Adam's children in open battle. He vows to take hold of a small, soft place, and to eat away slowly.

Picture a sixteen-year-old who can lift twice his own weight in the gym. He opens an app 'for one minute' before revising for an exam. He surfaces two hours later, unsure where the time went. Nobody overpowered him. Something found the rope.

So the defence is not mainly strength. It is guarding the small places where a person is led. Think of the eye that wanders, the tongue that runs ahead, the appetite that will not wait. Ask yourself honestly where your rope is. Then put it in the hand of the One who says, three ayat later, that the enemy has no authority over His servants (17:65).

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.