Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 122 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:122

وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ

“And indeed, your Lord - He is the Exalted in Might, the Merciful.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The refrain first heard at 26:9 closes the flood: the Mighty drowned the defiant, and the Merciful carried the believers through.

A reflection

Mighty in the water, Merciful in the hull

This exact line was first met at 26:9, and its full treatment lives there. After the flood, its two names can be seen in two neighbouring ayat.

Al-Raḥīm is the laden ark: everyone with Nuh carried safely through (26:119). Al-ʿAzīz is the water closing over those who had threatened to stone him (26:120). One commentator reads the pair just so. Mighty in taking vengeance on those who denied Him. Merciful to whoever turns back, so that He does not punish them after their repentance.

The ego should feel how small it is here. A whole people that thought itself unbeatable was undone by rain and springs. No human strength reaches the might in this name.

Yet He does not tell us this because He needs our fear or our praise. Nothing we feel adds to Him. The refrain is for our sake. It tells the proud that might is His alone. It tells the frightened that the same might is joined to mercy.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.