Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 68 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:68

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 returns after the sea, and the story has already shown whose might is real and whose mercy saves.

A reflection

By whose might?

This exact line was first met at 26:9, and its full treatment lives there. This is its first return, and it lands with a particular weight.

Twenty-four ayat earlier, Pharaoh's magicians threw down their ropes and staffs with an oath. Bi-ʿizzati Firʿawn: by the might of Pharaoh, we will surely be the winners (26:44). They staked everything on his ʿizza, his might, his power to prevail.

Now the story is over. The magicians have fallen in prostration. Pharaoh's army lies under the sea. And the surah speaks one sentence: your Lord, He is al-ʿAzīz, the Mighty. Same root as the oath. The question of whose might was real has been answered, not by argument, but by events.

This is where the ego has to check its own oaths. Few people today swear by a king. But we lean our full weight on borrowed might: an employer's backing, a powerful friend, our own reputation. We speak as if they will win for us.

Allah does not state this to win applause. He needs no one's acknowledgement to remain the Mighty. The line is for us, so that we stop swearing by things that drown.

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.