Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 66 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:66

ثُمَّ أَغْرَقْنَا ٱلْـَٔاخَرِينَ

“Then We drowned the others.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Once the last of the rescued was clear, Allah let the held water go, and the pursuing army that had filled the sea was drowned.

A reflection

Drowning needed no new miracle

Go back one moment in the story. The sea had split, and each part stood 'like the great mountain' (26:63). Water does not stand. It was standing only because Allah was holding it.

One classical commentator counts this as a wonder of its own. The water did not drain away or vanish. It was gathered and held upright on either side. Every second the walls stood, they stood by His command.

Now read thumma aghraqnā: then We drowned. Look at what that required. No new army, no new weapon, no fresh sign. The water had only to stop being held. Released, it did what water always does. It fell, and filled the space where an army stood.

The root of aghraqnā pictures water filling every breath, a thing carried to its furthest limit. The lexicons establish both senses. Pharaoh's people had been carried, step by step, to the far edge of what they had been given. Then the edge arrived.

This is where the ego has to look again at what holds it up. A career, a fortune, good health, a reputation: they feel like solid ground. Very often they are held water. They stand because Allah is holding them, not because they are naturally solid. Pride forgets this and leans its full weight on the wall.

The arrogant imagine that bringing them down would take enormous effort. Here it takes the opposite: a hand that stops holding. That is greatness of a kind no human power can imitate.

Nor does Allah need this display for His own sake. He gains nothing from it and needs nobody's awe. The ayah is mercy to the reader. It says plainly: whatever is standing in your life, give thanks to the One holding 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.