Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 18 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:18

بَلْ نَقْذِفُ بِٱلْحَقِّ عَلَى ٱلْبَـٰطِلِ فَيَدْمَغُهُۥ فَإِذَا هُوَ زَاهِقٌ ۚ وَلَكُمُ ٱلْوَيْلُ مِمَّا تَصِفُونَ

“Rather, We dash the truth upon falsehood, and it destroys it,[879] and thereupon it departs. And for you is destruction from that which you describe.[880]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Truth is not argued into place; it is hurled from above onto falsehood's hollow head, and falsehood is simply gone.

A reflection

Hurled from above onto something hollow

Rather, We hurl the truth against falsehood, and it smashes it. Every word in that line has weight. The verb naqdhifu is not "place" or "set". The lexicons describe qadhf as throwing, especially across distance, and one lexicon adds that it implies a hard throw. The verb that follows, yadmaghuhu, is brutal. One commentator explains: to strike a man's head with a wound that reaches the brain, after which there is no life. The lexicons list head wounds in order of severity. The dāmigha, the brain-wound, is the last and worst. These images are recorded plainly.

A commentator draws out the picture. It is like a hard, solid object thrown from a high place onto something soft and hollow below, splitting it. Truth comes from above; falsehood sits low. The one remains; the other was always perishable.

That should humble every confident human structure built on what is not true. Picture an office where, for a year, everyone has been putting money into a scheme a colleague swore could not lose. They compare returns over lunch. The doubters are mocked as timid. One Monday morning the website is gone, the phone lines are dead, and the man who ran it is unreachable. Nothing was argued. The thing simply turned out to be hollow when something solid fell on it.

Pride builds many things on hollow ground: a reputation, a life philosophy, an idea of oneself. The ayah does not promise a long debate. It promises a blow from above.

A sceptic may ask whether this is God boasting of force. The context says otherwise. Falsehood here, the commentators say, is the lie told about Him: that He has a consort, a child, a rival. Truth is His Book and its proofs. What is smashed is not a person but a lie. And the purpose is that people stop being deceived by it.

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.