Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 34 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:34

ٱلَّذِينَ يُحْشَرُونَ عَلَىٰ وُجُوهِهِمْ إِلَىٰ جَهَنَّمَ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ شَرٌّ مَّكَانًا وَأَضَلُّ سَبِيلًا

“The ones who are gathered on their faces to Hell - those are the worst in position and farthest astray in [their] way.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those who mocked the Messenger's place will be gathered on their faces, and the road they chose will prove the worst of places.

A reflection

The One who gave you feet

The Companions asked the obvious question. A man said: Messenger of Allah, how will the disbeliever be gathered on his face on the Day of Resurrection? The answer, recorded in both Sahihs, turned the question round. Is not the One who made him walk on his two feet in this world able to make him walk on his face?

That reply shrinks something in us. We think of walking upright as simply what we do. We do not remember learning it. We certainly do not think of it as a gift held on loan.

Yet every step was given. The balance that keeps us level, the bones of the foot, the muscles that hold a body up against the pull of the earth. None of us designed them. The man who strides into a room with his chin raised is walking on borrowed legs.

The ego builds its posture on that forgetfulness. Arrogance is a way of standing. It shows in the face held high and turned away from people. The ayah takes that face, the most honoured and most proud part of a person, and puts it to the ground.

One narrator who heard the reply said at once: yes, by the might of our Lord. He did not argue. He saw that the question answered itself.

So walk humbly on the feet you have been given. Each morning you stand is a morning you were held up. The One who holds you up could set you down in any way He wills. That thought is not meant to freeze a believer with fear. It is meant to take the swagger out of the step.

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.