Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 57 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:57

فَأَخْرَجْنَـٰهُم مِّن جَنَّـٰتٍ وَعُيُونٍ

“So We removed them from gardens and springs”

Saheeh International

Essence

After three lines of Pharaoh's 'we', Allah speaks once, and the lords of the Nile gardens are moved out like guests whose stay has ended.

A reflection

From 'rivers beneath me' to no springs at all

Listen to the voice change. For three ayat Pharaoh has been speaking: they are a scrap, they enrage us, we are a watchful host. Then, with no announcement, another speaker takes over. Fa-akhrajnāhum: so We drove them out.

Pharaoh's 'we' had filled the air. Now he is not even named. He has shrunk into a pronoun, hum, them, the object of someone else's verb. The one who mustered cities is moved like furniture.

Elsewhere the Quran records Pharaoh's proudest boast. 'Is not the kingdom of Egypt mine, and these rivers flowing beneath me?' (43:51). He pointed at the water as proof of his greatness. Here is the answer to that boast, in four words. We drove them out of gardens and springs. The water he claimed as his was never his. He was a tenant beside it, and the tenancy has ended.

Picture an old watermill on a river. Its first owner had his initials carved in stone above the weir, deep enough to last for ever. Today the mill is a café. Nobody reading the menu knows whose initials those are. The river still runs exactly as it did. It never belonged to the man who carved his name over it.

Every one of us carves initials somewhere: a house, a title, a business, a reputation. Pride says 'mine'. This ayah says 'lent'. The ego that will not hear the difference is preparing its own Pharaoh's morning.

Is it not arrogant, then, for Allah to speak of Himself as 'We' and describe His power like this? Pharaoh's 'we' needed the crowd's agreement to feel real. Allah's needs nothing; 'you are the ones in need of Allah, and Allah is the Rich, the Praised' (35:15). He tells us this for our sake. A reader who sees how quickly 'mine' becomes 'them' holds every gift more humbly, and more gratefully.

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.