Fatir · Makki · ayah 44 of 45

Fatir 35:44

أَوَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرُوا۟ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةُ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَكَانُوٓا۟ أَشَدَّ مِنْهُمْ قُوَّةً ۚ وَمَا كَانَ ٱللَّهُ لِيُعْجِزَهُۥ مِن شَىْءٍ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَلَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ عَلِيمًا قَدِيرًا

“Have they not traveled through the land and observed how was the end of those before them? And they were greater than them in power. But Allāh is not to be caused failure [i.e., prevented] by anything in the heavens or on the earth. Indeed, He is ever Knowing and Competent.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Stronger nations could not outrun Him; nothing in the heavens or the earth slips past the One who knows all and can do all.

A reflection

Nobody has ever been ahead of Him

The key verb is yuʿjizahu. Its root pictures a race. The ʿajuz is the hindmost part of a thing, the rump of a camel, the last line of a verse. To aʿjaza someone is to outrun him until he cannot catch you. The ayah says it was never Allah's way for anything to outrun Him.

Every arrogant plan rests on a hidden assumption: I will be faster. Faster than the law, faster than the consequences, faster than my own conscience. A teenage shoplifter believes this for two years. He has a route through the shop, a coat with deep pockets, a calm face at the door. One afternoon the manager sits him down with his parents and plays the footage. Every visit is there. He was never ahead. He was simply allowed to run.

The ego hates being told it is slow. Yet this is where honesty begins. The nations before Quraysh were "stronger than them in power". They built more, lived longer and held more. None of it bought a single step of lead.

Then the ayah widens the field to its limits: "in the heavens or in the earth". There is no lane in the sky and no tunnel under the ground. One commentator notes that the word "thing" here sweeps in everything. He compares it to the record that leaves out nothing small or great (18:49).

Is this a boast? Only if it were untrue, or if Allah needed us to admit it. He gains nothing from our admission. We gain a great deal. Someone who knows he cannot outrun Allah stops wasting his life on getaways. He starts walking towards Him instead.

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.