Al-Qasas · Makki · ayah 41 of 88

Al-Qasas 28:41

وَجَعَلْنَـٰهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَدْعُونَ إِلَى ٱلنَّارِ ۖ وَيَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ لَا يُنصَرُونَ

“And We made them leaders[1105] inviting to the Fire, and on the Day of Resurrection they will not be helped.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Pharaoh and his people became leaders who still call others to the Fire, and on the Day of Resurrection no one will help them.

A reflection

Still calling after the water closed

Yadʿūna ilā al-nār: they call to the Fire. The verb is in the present tense. Pharaoh and his chiefs are long drowned, and the ayah still describes them as calling.

The commentaries explain how. They became leaders whom later deniers took as models. Whoever walks their road, rejecting messengers and exalting himself, is answering their call. One commentary adds that this is why their punishment grows. They carry their own burden and the burden of those who follow them.

Sahih Muslim reports the Prophet ﷺ saying something to the same effect. Whoever calls to guidance has a reward like the rewards of those who follow, without lessening theirs. Whoever calls to misguidance carries a sin like the sins of those who follow, without lessening theirs.

The lexicons give the root d-ʿ-w a picture of drawing something towards you with your voice, and the picture is established. When one wall fell and brought the next down after it, the Arabs said the walls tadāʿat. The first had called the second.

That is the image here. A leader who falls rarely falls alone. The collapse calls the next wall, and the next.

A company's founder once told a sales conference never to apologise to a customer, because it only invites a claim. He left the firm long ago. The sentence is still quoted in the staff handbook. New hires learn it in their first week, from people who never met him.

Every person with influence is setting up a voice that will keep speaking after they fall silent. The question for any leader, at any scale, is simple. When I am gone, what will my sentences be calling people towards?

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.