Al-Mu'minun · Makki · ayah 48 of 118

Al-Mu'minun 23:48

فَكَذَّبُوهُمَا فَكَانُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلْمُهْلَكِينَ

“So they denied them and were of those destroyed.”

Saheeh International

Essence

They called both brothers liars, and so they joined the long list of the destroyed that this surah has been reading out since Nuh.

A reflection

One more name on the list

At an old war memorial, a visitor runs her finger down the columns of names. Some must have been famous in their villages. Some must have been feared. On the stone they all have the same letters, the same size, in alphabetical order.

The ayah does not say Pharaoh was destroyed in some unique way that made him special. It says fa-kānū mina al-muhlakīn: so they became among the destroyed. One commentator spells out the meaning. They became among those Allah destroyed, as He had destroyed the nations before them for denying their messengers.

That little word min, among, carries a sharp humiliation. Pharaoh had claimed to be a god. His court had called a whole people their servants. Yet in the end, he is simply added to a list. Nuh's people, the people after them, the generations made into tales, and now Pharaoh and his court. One more entry.

This surah has been building that list for more than twenty ayat. Every denial, every "far, far", every oath against the messengers has ended in the same column. Pharaoh's power did not earn him a different line.

The lexicons give the root a stark picture. Halaka means breaking and falling. The hulk was the drop between two mountains. A mahlaka was a desert where travellers perished. That image is established.

What the ayah teaches is the levelling power of the end. Titles, armies, palaces and claims to divinity all fall into the same ravine. Only what was done for Allah remains.

Ask yourself which list your life is quietly being written into. Then do one thing today that belongs to the other one.

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.