Al-'Ankabut · Makki · ayah 57 of 69

Al-'Ankabut 29:57

كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَآئِقَةُ ٱلْمَوْتِ ۖ ثُمَّ إِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ

“Every soul will taste death. Then to Us will you be returned.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Said to believers afraid to leave home: death finds every soul wherever it stays, and then all return to Allah alone.

A reflection

The same column inches

Kullu nafsin: every soul. Not most, not the weak, not those who did not plan well. Every one. Then ilaynā: to Us, placed first in the sentence. One modern summary renders it: to Us alone you will be returned.

The two halves together are a statement of absolute power. There is one door out of this world, and one Lord on the other side of it. No soul is exempt from the first, and no soul has anywhere else to go after it.

Open the death notices page of a regional newspaper on an ordinary Saturday. A property developer who owned half the town centre has a notice. Beside it, in exactly the same typeface and almost the same space, is a notice for a retired bus driver. The developer's family paid for a longer one. It is still only a few lines longer.

The ego works hard to forget that page. It builds a name, a portfolio, a following, as if size could buy a different exit. Every soul will taste death deflates that pride in five words. The arrogant and the humble taste the same thing. And then both are returned, the passive voice saying it is not their choice.

Why would Allah state His power so starkly? Not to be admired. He is free of need of all the worlds (29:6). He states it because the people hearing it were frightened. Powerful men in Makkah were threatening them. This line shrinks those men to their true size. Their lives end too. They also return to Him.

The page of notices is not a cruelty. For the oppressed, it is a comfort.

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.