Al-'Ankabut · Makki · ayah 39 of 69

Al-'Ankabut 29:39

وَقَـٰرُونَ وَفِرْعَوْنَ وَهَـٰمَـٰنَ ۖ وَلَقَدْ جَآءَهُم مُّوسَىٰ بِٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ فَٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا كَانُوا۟ سَـٰبِقِينَ

“And [We destroyed] Qārūn and Pharaoh and Hāmān. And Moses had already come to them with clear evidences, and they were arrogant in the land, but they were not outrunners [of Our punishment].”

Saheeh International

Essence

A fortune, a throne and a minister met the same clear proofs, and all three stood tall on ground that could not hold them.

A reflection

Standing tall on a speck

The ayah could have said simply that they were arrogant. It adds two small words: fī al-arḍ, on the earth. One classical commentator stops on them. Why mention where?

His answer is a quiet piece of mockery. Of all the beings who are answerable to Allah, those on the earth are the weakest. Those in the heavens are the strongest. Yet the dwellers of the heavens never grow arrogant towards Allah, nor too proud to worship Him. So how does a creature of the ground manage it?

The Quran says it plainly elsewhere: those who are with your Lord are not too proud to worship Him (7:206). The angels, vast beyond our measuring, bow. Pharaoh, a man the sea would close over, declared I am your lord most high (79:24).

There is a well-known kind of photograph taken from orbit at night. The whole dark side of the earth turns beneath the camera. Every great city is a smear of light no bigger than a fingerprint. Somewhere in one of those smears, a man is looking out from the top floor of his own tower. He is certain he is very high up.

That is the picture fī al-arḍ paints. Not arrogance in a vacuum, but arrogance on a speck, beneath skies whose people do not dare it.

And the ayah closes the matter in three words: wa mā kānū sābiqīn. They did not get away. One commentator connects it to an ayah earlier in this surah. Every corner of the earth lies in the grip of His power (29:22).

Someone may object that Allah calls Himself al-Mutakabbir, the Supremely Great (59:23). Is that not a double standard? The root answers it. In Allah, greatness is simply true. In a creature, it is a self swollen past its real size. A mountain is not vain for being tall. A balloon blown past its skin bursts.

He needs none of our humility (35:15). It is simply the truth about our size. Pride is a lie about how big we are. Humility is just accuracy.

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.