Al-Mu'minun · Makki · ayah 41 of 118

Al-Mu'minun 23:41

فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ ٱلصَّيْحَةُ بِٱلْحَقِّ فَجَعَلْنَـٰهُمْ غُثَآءً ۚ فَبُعْدًا لِّلْقَوْمِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ

“So the shriek[954] seized them in truth,[955] and We made them as [plant] stubble. Then away with the wrongdoing people.”

Saheeh International

Essence

One cry, rightly due, and the chiefs who filled every eye became flood debris; the people who said "far, far" were themselves sent far away.

A reflection

From filling the eye to flood debris

After a river flood, the water drops and people walk down to the old bridge. Against one pier, the current has piled a tangle of branches, dead leaves, a plastic garden chair, a child's ball and an expensive leather handbag. Whatever any of it once meant to anyone, it is all the same now.

The ayah says: fa-jaʿalnāhum ghuthāʾan, and We made them flood debris. The lexicons say ghuthāʾ is what a flood carries on its surface: dry leaves, stalks and foam mixed with filth. The Arabs used it for anything swept away and not counted. That image is established. One commentator describes it as the blackened leaves and twigs a torrent carries. Another says it is the worthless thing from which nothing at all can be gained.

Now remember who these people were. They were the malaʾ, the notables, the ones who filled the eye. They had been given every comfort. They had sworn oaths, passed verdicts on a messenger, and decided for a whole people what was far-fetched.

One verb from Allah, and all of it became debris on the water. Not ruins with a plaque. Not a noble tragedy. Debris.

This is the Quran's cure for a certain kind of pride. Status feels solid from the inside. The title, the wealth, the following, the respect in the room. The ayah shows how light all of it is when weighed by the One who gave it. The handbag and the branch end up in the same tangle.

None of this is Allah showing off; He needs no audience. It is shown to us, so that no one mistakes standing for safety. The humble response is not to despise what we have. It is to hold it as something given and easily taken back.

Look at whatever makes you feel most important. Picture it against the bridge pier. Then thank Allah that, for now, you are still standing on the bank.

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.