Al-Qasas · Makki · ayah 58 of 88

Al-Qasas 28:58

وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَرْيَةٍۭ بَطِرَتْ مَعِيشَتَهَا ۖ فَتِلْكَ مَسَـٰكِنُهُمْ لَمْ تُسْكَن مِّنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا ۖ وَكُنَّا نَحْنُ ٱلْوَٰرِثِينَ

“And how many a city have We destroyed that was insolent in its [way of] living, and those are their dwellings which have not been inhabited after them except briefly.[1114] And it is We who were the inheritors.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Towns that could not carry their plenty became empty houses, used only by passing travellers; every owner leaves, and Allah alone inherits.

A reflection

The blank space at the bottom of the board

In the entrance hall of an old school hangs a wooden board. On it, in gold leaf, are the names of every head teacher since the school opened. Each name has its years beside it. Each was, for a time, the most important person in the building. At the bottom there is a blank space, already varnished, waiting for the next name.

The ayah ends with a line like that board, seen from above: wa-kunnā naḥnu al-wārithīn, and it was We who were the inheritors. The Arabic does not simply say 'We inherited'. It adds naḥnu, We Ourselves, a pronoun the sentence did not need. The extra word closes the list.

The commentaries explain what inheriting means here. One says the homes went back to how they were before anyone lived in them, with no owner but Allah. Another notes how the Arabs spoke of a thing whose owners had all gone. They called it the inheritance of Allah, because He remains after His creation has passed. Every human inheritance hands a thing on to the next name on the board. This one hands it to no one, because there is no one after Him.

That is where the ego quietly shrinks. We write our names on things: deeds, doors, websites, the brass plate by the office lift. The pride is natural, and it is borrowed. Every one of those names is the next line on a board whose last line is not ours.

Notice also who is speaking. These words reached Makkah, a city proud of its trade, its sanctuary and its houses. The ayah did not threaten to take those houses as a prize. It said what had always been true. They were held for a while, then returned.

So the next time you sign for something, a lease, a car, a job title, read the signature as a date, not a claim. You are a name with years beside it. The inheritor is already known.

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.