Sad · Makki · ayah 82 of 88

Sad 38:82

قَالَ فَبِعِزَّتِكَ لَأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ

“[Iblees] said, "By Your might, I will surely mislead them all”

Saheeh International

Essence

Cursed and driven out, Iblīs finds nothing greater to swear by than the might of the One he defies, and vows to mislead everyone.

A reflection

Swearing by the might he does not have

A nineteen-year-old announces at dinner that he owes his parents nothing. He is his own man now, he says, and always has been. Then, at the door, he asks whether he can borrow the car to go out and celebrate.

Iblīs has just been cursed and expelled. He has refused the command and argued with his Lord. Now he makes his great declaration of war. And what does he swear by? Fa-bi-ʿizzatika: by Your might. Even in open rebellion, he can find nothing higher to swear by than Allah.

The commentaries explain the oath as one sworn by Allah's power, authority and overpowering of all beneath Him. An early report adds a sharp comment. The enemy of Allah knew, it says, that he had no might of his own.

That is the ego's hidden poverty laid bare. Pride presents itself as independence, yet it runs on borrowed fuel. The arrogant man's strength, health, intelligence and time all come from the One he will not bow to. His very defiance is spoken with breath that is not his. Whoever desires might, the Quran says, should know that all might belongs to Allah (35:10).

The surah has been circling this word from its opening. Those who disbelieve, it said, are in ʿizza and opposition (38:2). That was a borrowed, inflated might, the swagger of the proud. Now the first of the proud admits, under oath, where real might lives.

Someone may object that Allah's insistence on His own might sounds like the very self-importance He condemns. But think of a father at a busy kerb. He tells his four-year-old, 'I'm much stronger than you, so hold my hand.' He is not boasting. He is telling the truth about his strength for the child's sake.

Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim reports that might is His lower garment and grandeur His cloak, and whoever contends with Him for them is punished. The sin is not in His having might. It is in a creature tugging at a garment that was never his, which is exactly what Iblīs did.

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.