Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 60 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:60

وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ ٱسْجُدُوا۟ لِلرَّحْمَـٰنِ قَالُوا۟ وَمَا ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ أَنَسْجُدُ لِمَا تَأْمُرُنَا وَزَادَهُمْ نُفُورًا ۩

“And when it is said to them, "Prostrate to the Most Merciful," they say, "And what is the Most Merciful? Should we prostrate to that which you order us?" And it increases them in aversion.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Told to bow to the Merciful, they asked 'And what is the Merciful?', and the call itself drove them further away.

A reflection

Refused because of who gave the order

Listen to the second half of their reply. Anasjudu li-mā taʾmurunā: shall we prostrate to whatever you order us? The objection is not about evidence. It is about who is giving the order.

One commentary glosses it: merely on your say-so? The pride sits in the pronoun. We do not bow because you tell us to. Another accepted recitation has them saying it to one another: shall we bow to whatever he orders us? Either way, the command is refused because of the one who gave it.

Picture a head chef of twenty years. A new junior cook tastes the sauce and says, quietly, that it is over-salted. The chef does not taste it. He sends the plates out. He would rather serve a ruined dish than take a correction from the youngest person in his kitchen. The salt was never the issue.

That is how pride usually works. It rarely argues with a truth directly. It argues with the messenger, the tone, the timing, the age of the person who said it. Then it treats its own resistance as a principle.

One commentary notes the deeper irony. A command to bow to the Merciful ought to have been a reason to act and accept. Instead it became a reason to refuse.

The question for the reader is uncomfortable. Which instructions from Allah do I resist, not because I have weighed them, but because of who reminded me? The relative I do not respect. The speaker I find irritating. The younger person who knows more than I do.

The ayah suggests a test. If the same words came from someone I admired, would I still object? If not, the problem is not the words.

The Merciful's command does not change its worth with the voice that carries it.

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.