Al-Hajj · Madani · ayah 56 of 78

Al-Hajj 22:56

ٱلْمُلْكُ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِّلَّهِ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَهُمْ ۚ فَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ فِى جَنَّـٰتِ ٱلنَّعِيمِ

“[All] sovereignty that Day is for Allāh;[936] He will judge between them. So they who believed and did righteous deeds will be in the Gardens of Pleasure.”

Saheeh International

Essence

On that Day every borrowed crown is handed back, Allah alone rules and judges, and those who believed and did good live inside His bliss.

A reflection

Checking the crowns back into the box

Sovereignty that Day is Allah's. Four Arabic words, and every throne in history shrinks.

The leading early commentator draws out the contrast. In this world there were kings who were called by that title. On that Day no one will claim kingship except Him. A later commentator adds a precise point. In this world some people hold a kind of outward, apparent power over things. On that Day no one will have any control at all, real or apparent, in form or in meaning.

Picture a theatre on the last night of a long-running play. For a year, one actor has walked on stage every evening in robes and a gilded crown. Audiences rose when he entered. Other actors bowed. Now the curtain has fallen. Backstage, the wardrobe mistress takes the crown from his hands. She wraps it in tissue and puts it in a cardboard box labelled 'Act Two'. He goes home on the night bus.

That is every crown in this world, including the small ones. The manager's title. The influencer's following. The father's authority at the dinner table. The senior partner's corner office. None of it is false, but all of it is costume. It was handed to us for a season.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, described that Day in a hadith in both Sahihs. Allah will grip the earth and fold up the heavens. Then He will say, I am the King. Where are the kings of the earth?

Is it arrogant for Allah to announce this? Arrogance is claiming a greatness you do not have, and needing others to see it. Allah claims only what is true, and needs no one. The announcement is for us, like a lighthouse beam: it shines for the ships, not for the lighthouse.

This should shrink the ego in the most freeing way. If every crown I wear is costume, I need not defend it so fiercely. I need not be crushed when it is taken off. I can wear it lightly, use it well, and hand it back without bitterness.

And if I am tempted to arrogance because of what I hold, the ayah answers simply. Hold it as the actor holds the crown. The play ends. Only one King was never acting.

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.