Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 64 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:64

وَأَزْلَفْنَا ثَمَّ ٱلْـَٔاخَرِينَ

“And We advanced thereto the others [i.e., the pursuers].”

Saheeh International

Essence

Pharaoh believed he was closing in on his prey, but Allah says He drew the pursuers, stage by stage, to that very spot.

A reflection

The hunter who was being brought

A club chess player is attacking hard. He takes a knight, then a pawn, then a rook, each capture a small thrill. His opponent, an older woman, seems to be losing everything. Then she moves one bishop. He realises that every piece he grabbed drew his king a square nearer a trap. He was not hunting. He was being brought.

Read the chase from Pharaoh's side. He had sent gatherers to every city (26:53). He had called the fleeing slaves a small band who had enraged him (26:54-55). He caught them at sunrise with the sea at their backs (26:60). From where he sat on his horse, he was the author of everything.

One early report preserves his words when he saw the open sea. 'Do you not see? The sea has split in fear of me, to let me reach my enemies.' He read the miracle as a tribute to himself.

Then comes this ayah, and it quietly takes the pen from his hand. Wa azlafnā: and We brought near. The verb has a subject, and it is not Pharaoh. His gathering, his galloping, his final ride onto the seabed were all steps on a road Allah was drawing him along.

Here the ego has something to learn. Most of us feel like the authors of our ambitions. We chase a promotion, a deal, a person, a win, and we feel every step as our own. Sometimes it is. But the One above every chase decides where the road ends. The pride that says 'I am closing in' rarely asks what is closing in on it.

None of this is Allah boasting for an audience. He gains nothing from Pharaoh's humiliation and needs nobody's admiration. The ayah is for the frightened people on the shore, and for us. The army you fear is not the master of its own march.

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.