As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 115 of 182

As-Saffat 37:115

وَنَجَّيْنَـٰهُمَا وَقَوْمَهُمَا مِنَ ٱلْكَرْبِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ

“And We saved them and their people from the great affliction,”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah rescued Musa, Harun and their people from the great distress of Pharaoh's oppression: a knot no human hand could loosen, untied by the Great.

A reflection

The empire that could not hold two brothers

Wa-najjaynāhumā wa-qawmahumā: and We rescued the two of them, and their people.

Consider who was on the other side. Pharaoh ruled the greatest state of his age. He had armies, priests, magicians, granaries and monuments. He claimed, in the Quran's account, 'I am your lord, the most high' (79:24). The commentaries describe what he did to the Children of Israel. He killed their sons, spared their women, and set them to the meanest labour.

Against all that stood two brothers with a staff and a message. By every human measure, the contest was over before it began.

Yet the verb in this ayah has only one subject. Not Musa's courage, not Harun's eloquence, not the people's endurance. We rescued them. The most powerful man on earth could not keep hold of the people he owned. His grip simply opened.

This is the majesty the ayah shows. Human power, however vast, is borrowed and temporary. Allah's power is His own and never runs out. The towers of pride that Pharaoh built are no obstacle to Him. He does not need to negotiate with tyrants. He decides, and they lose their grip.

That should humble two kinds of people. It humbles the powerful, who imagine their position is permanent. Every manager, landlord, official and parent who holds power over others is holding something lent. Pharaoh's ending shows what happens when the loan is forgotten.

It humbles the frightened too, in a different way. Our fear often treats human power as final. We give the boss, the authority, the bully a size in our minds that belongs only to Allah. The ayah puts them back in proportion.

Does Allah need us to admire Him for this? No. He rescued a people who would soon complain and stray. He needed nothing from them. The rescue was for them, and the telling of it is for us: so that we stop bowing inwardly to anyone smaller than Him.

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.