An-Naml · Makki · ayah 87 of 93

An-Naml 27:87

وَيَوْمَ يُنفَخُ فِى ٱلصُّورِ فَفَزِعَ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَن فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ إِلَّا مَن شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ ۚ وَكُلٌّ أَتَوْهُ دَٰخِرِينَ

“And [warn of] the Day the Horn will be blown, and whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth will be terrified except whom Allāh wills. And all will come to Him humbled.”

Saheeh International

Essence

One blast, and everyone in the heavens and the earth is seized with terror; then every one of them comes to Him, made small.

A reflection

The man who never queued

A famous man has not stood in a queue for twenty years. Drivers wait for him, doors open before he reaches them, a lane at the airport is kept clear. One night the private lane is shut for repairs. He stands in the ordinary line with his passport in his hand, behind a family with a pushchair. Nobody recognises him. For forty minutes he is exactly as important as everyone else.

The ayah ends with a phrase that closes every private lane: wa-kullun atawhu dākhirīn, 'and all came to Him, made small'. Kullun means every one: the angels of the heavens and the people of the earth, the emperor and the shepherd. No one is carried, and no one sends a deputy.

The root of dākhirīn has, the lexicons say, one meaning: lowness. A man dakhara when he was humbled and made small. The dākhir does what he is ordered, willing or unwilling. The Quran uses the same root of shadows that stretch and bow to Allah (16:48). Every body yields to its Maker, whatever its owner thinks.

That should puncture our pride long before the Day. Some people keep others waiting as a sign of rank. They answer every summons late, and treat being called as beneath them. They will come when He calls. The only question is whether they come willingly now or unwillingly then.

Is this a King who enjoys watching creatures grovel? The doubt deserves an answer. Being 'made small' here is not a degradation invented for the occasion. It is the truth about size, finally visible. Every creature was always small before Him; the Day only removes the private lanes that hid it. One commentary allows a further reading: their coming means returning to His command and yielding to it. The humble person in this life has simply arrived early at a truth everyone will reach.

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.