Al-Mu'minun · Makki · ayah 64 of 118

Al-Mu'minun 23:64

حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَخَذْنَا مُتْرَفِيهِم بِٱلْعَذَابِ إِذَا هُمْ يَجْـَٔرُونَ

“Until when We seize their affluent ones with punishment,[963] at once they are crying [to Allāh] for help.”

Saheeh International

Essence

When Allah seizes the pampered and powerful, their composure collapses at once into the bellow of a frightened animal.

A reflection

The hand that closes on the rein

A famous businessman is rushed to hospital. His bodyguards follow him in. Then they stand in the corridor, helpless. There is nothing in the room they can fight.

Akhadhnā: We seized. The lexicons give the root an established picture. Taking the camel's rein in the hand. A captive was an akhīdh, the one taken. Illness and sleep "take" a man. The image is a grip that closes, and a person led away.

And who is taken? Mutrafīhim, their pampered ones. One early authority, recorded in a commentary, says simply: the great ones. One commentator explains why they are singled out. They were protected by others, guards and servants and retinue. If even they met this fate, how much more those who protected them.

That is a direct word to the ego. Pride builds walls of people and possessions and feels safe behind them. Security details, lawyers, advisers, money. The walls are real, against human threats. Against the hand that closes on the rein, they are a corridor full of helpless guards.

Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim report the Prophet ﷺ saying that Allah gives the wrongdoer respite. And when He seizes him, He does not let him go.

Does Allah need to display this power? No. He is free of all need (35:15). His seizing is not vanity or a show of force. It is justice arriving at the end of a long respite, after the warnings of the ayat before it.

The humbling is for us. Whatever walls we have built, they are made of borrowed bricks. The businessman's guards were loyal and strong. Neither loyalty nor strength could follow him into that room. Only the One who holds every rein could.

So hold your own walls lightly. Thank Allah for the protection He gives through people. Never mistake the people for the protection.

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.