An-Naml · Makki · ayah 83 of 93

An-Naml 27:83

وَيَوْمَ نَحْشُرُ مِن كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ فَوْجًا مِّمَّن يُكَذِّبُ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَا فَهُمْ يُوزَعُونَ

“And [warn of] the Day when We will gather from every nation a company of those who deny Our signs, and they will be [driven] in rows”

Saheeh International

Essence

On the Day a crowd of deniers is mustered from every nation and held in ranks, each one there by his own choice.

A reflection

The ones in front are called first

Several commentators read "a company from every nation" as its chiefs: the leaders whom others followed into denial. One early report names the Meccan leaders of that day. They would be driven ahead of the people of Mecca, it says, and the leaders of every other nation ahead of theirs.

The word umma deepens the picture. Its root names whatever gathers things around it; Mecca is called the mother of towns. The imām is the one in front whom others follow. The same word named the builder's line, stretched so that each course of a wall ran straight. A nation, in this picture, is people gathered around a line that someone set.

So the ayah shows the line-setters called to account at the head of their lines. The Quran says the same of Pharaoh. He will go before his people on the Day of Resurrection and lead them down into the Fire (11:98). Leadership does not end at death. On that Day it still walks in front.

Picture the captain of a ferry that capsized leaving harbour. At the public inquiry he is called first, before any deckhand. Nobody thinks this unfair. He set the speed, approved the loading and chose to sail. The crew's mistakes are real, but they were made inside his decisions.

This ayah asks everyone with followers to read it as part of their job description. You may lead a team, a classroom, a household, or a few thousand people online. Whatever line you stretch, others will lay their courses along it. If it is crooked, you will stand at the front of the column that answers for it.

The same principle runs in the other direction, and that is its mercy. The Prophet ﷺ said that whoever begins a good practice receives its reward. He also receives the reward of all who follow it, without theirs being reduced (Sahih Muslim). Set a straight line, and every course laid true along it is written to you as well.

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.