Al-Qasas · Makki · ayah 42 of 88

Al-Qasas 28:42

وَأَتْبَعْنَـٰهُمْ فِى هَـٰذِهِ ٱلدُّنْيَا لَعْنَةً ۖ وَيَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ هُم مِّنَ ٱلْمَقْبُوحِينَ

“And We caused to overtake them in this world a curse, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be of the despised.[1106]”

Saheeh International

Essence

The man who chased a fleeing people into the sea is chased in turn: by a curse here, and by exposure on the Last Day.

A reflection

The pursuer becomes the pursued

The verb that opens this ayah has been heard before in Pharaoh's story. When the Children of Israel slipped away by night, the Quran says fa-atbaʿahum firʿawnu: Pharaoh went after them (20:78). His army atbaʿūhum, followed on their heels at sunrise (26:60).

Now the same verb turns round. Wa-atbaʿnāhum: We made something follow them. The hunter has become the hunted. What runs at his heels now is not an army but a curse, and it does not stop at the shoreline.

The first hearers knew this root as a picture of closeness. The lexicons give the calf trailing its mother through its first year, and the shadow that never leaves a walker's heels. A tabīʿ was also the creditor who dogs your steps until you pay. All three fit. The curse keeps pace with Pharaoh as a shadow keeps pace with a man. It presses on him like a debt that has fallen due.

Notice the timing as well. Pharaoh's pursuit lasted one night and a dawn. The pursuit that answers it has lasted every century since. Each time his name is recited, the shadow arrives with it. One commentary says this curse runs on the tongues of believers, one generation after another.

There is a quiet law here. What you chase others with tends to come back and walk behind you. Pharaoh chased a people to put an end to them. He is now followed by a word that has put an end to his honour.

So it is worth asking, without drama, what I set loose behind other people. A rumour, a grudge, a running tally of someone's faults. The ayah suggests such things rarely stay where we send them. Sooner or later they learn the way back.

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.