Az-Zumar · Makki · ayah 26 of 75

Az-Zumar 39:26

فَأَذَاقَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْخِزْىَ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۖ وَلَعَذَابُ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ أَكْبَرُ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا۟ يَعْلَمُونَ

“So Allāh made them taste disgrace in worldly life. But the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The disgrace those nations suffered in this world was only a taste; what waits in the Hereafter is greater, if only they had known.

A reflection

Made small while everyone watches

Khizy, disgrace, has a careful definition in the lexicons. One finds two senses in the root. The first is governing and restraining: to rein the soul back from what it wants. The second is driving far off, putting at a distance. They meet in a man who does something ugly, feels ashamed and withdraws from people. His shame is khazāya. Khizy is that same distance imposed from outside: being made small while everyone watches.

The commentaries list the forms it took. Humiliation and abasement: transformation, the earth swallowing people, killing, captivity, exile, and every kind of exemplary punishment. Another commentary says Allah hastened humiliation for those nations in this world, and did not give them respite once they had defied their Lord's command.

The pairing of the two senses is instructive. Shame and disgrace are neighbours. Shame is the distance you take yourself, privately, when you know you have done wrong. Disgrace is the distance taken for you, publicly, when you would not take it yourself.

Picture an athlete who has quietly used banned substances for three seasons. Every time a test approaches, she feels a flicker of shame and says nothing. Then the results are announced on the stadium screen in the middle of a championship. Her medals are taken back in front of thousands. The private shame she would not act on has become public disgrace.

The ayah describes nations who refused shame, and so were given disgrace. It holds out, by implication, the better path: feel the khazāya now, privately, before Allah, and take the step back yourself.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.