Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 87 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:87

وَلَا تُخْزِنِى يَوْمَ يُبْعَثُونَ

“And do not disgrace me on the Day they are [all] resurrected -”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah's friend asks not to be disgraced on the Day all are raised; on that Day he will quote these words back to his Lord.

A reflection

Disgrace is measured by who you are

Most of us hear 'do not disgrace me' and picture one thing. Hidden sins dragged into the open. A private file read aloud to a crowd. So the prayer seems to belong to people with something to hide.

Then notice who is speaking. Ibrahim, the friend of Allah, at the close of a prayer full of trust. What was he afraid would be exposed?

The commentaries give several answers, and none of them is a hidden sin. One lists them. Disgrace through his father's punishment. Through his father being raised among the lost. Through being reproached for some shortfall. Or through a lower rank than he hoped for among the heirs of the Garden.

Another classical scholar asks the question directly. How could a protected prophet fear what the Quran assigns to the disbelievers? His answer is a principle. Each person's disgrace is measured by what befits his station. What counts as a high step for the righteous counts as a low one for those brought near.

An Olympic champion stands on the second step of the podium with a silver medal round her neck. A club runner would frame that medal above the fireplace. She cannot bring herself to look at it. Nothing about the silver has changed. Only the person holding it.

So the prayer is not only for the guilty. It belongs to anyone who knows how far short of their Lord they fall, and that includes the best of people. The nearer someone stands, the more they see.

And there is a second lesson. Ibrahim's first fear on that Day may not have been for himself at all. It may have been for the man he had just prayed for.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.