Taha · Makki · ayah 106 of 135

Taha 20:106

فَيَذَرُهَا قَاعًا صَفْصَفًا

“And He will leave it [i.e., the earth] a level plain;”

Saheeh International

Essence

Where the mountains stood, He leaves a bare and level plain, smooth as a row of people standing shoulder to shoulder.

A reflection

No high ground left

And He will leave it a level, bare plain. After the mountains are blown away, the commentaries describe what remains. A concise commentary: the earth left spread out, level, smooth, with nothing growing on it. Another: the ground that once carried the mountains, left level, with no building on it and no plant.

The word qāʿ, as the lexicons record and the Word Dictionary holds as established, is wide, smooth, firm ground. No rise or dip, no pebbles, no trees, the hills drawing back around it. And ṣafṣaf adds the sense of perfect evenness.

Think of what that means for human beings. Every advantage we have ever had depends on height of some kind. High ground in a battle. A raised platform for a speaker. A penthouse above the city. A seat at the top table. Even our language is full of it: high status, upper class, looking down on people.

On the Day, there will be no high ground. The mountains themselves are gone. The earth is a single sheet. No one can stand above anyone else.

Picture a man who has built his whole sense of himself on elevation. He bought the house on the hill so that his windows look down on the town. He sits at the head of every table. He parks in the reserved bay nearest the door. Then a flood comes through the valley, and the house on the hill is cut off for a week. He spends it in the same school-hall shelter as everyone else, on the same camp bed. On the flat floor of that hall, he is simply a man.

The ayah describes Allah levelling the whole earth. It is not a display of might for its own sake. It is a statement of truth that the ego badly needs: in the end, every human being stands at the same height before Him. Pride is simply forgetting that the ground will be level.

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.