Az-Zumar · Makki · ayah 37 of 75

Az-Zumar 39:37

وَمَن يَهْدِ ٱللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُۥ مِن مُّضِلٍّ ۗ أَلَيْسَ ٱللَّهُ بِعَزِيزٍ ذِى ٱنتِقَامٍ

“And whoever Allāh guides - for him there is no misleader. Is not Allāh Exalted in Might and Owner of Retribution?”

Saheeh International

Essence

Whoever Allah guides, no one can mislead, because the One who guides is Almighty, out of reach of every rival, and repays every wrong.

A reflection

The eagle's nest

The ayah closes with a second question: a-laysa allāhu bi-ʿazīzin dhī intiqām, is not Allah Almighty, Owner of retribution? One commentary explains ʿazīz here: overcoming and never overcome, beyond reach, never resisted and never contested.

The root ʿ-z-z means strength and hardness. Ground called ʿazāz was hard earth where hooves could not sink. A poet called the eagle ʿazīza because she nests on the highest peaks, out of every hand's reach. This image is established in the lexicons.

Human pride longs for that kind of height. We want to be unassailable: beyond criticism, beyond loss, beyond anyone's power to hurt us. We build reputations and positions to get there. The higher we climb, the more anxious we become about falling.

Picture a chief executive who has spent thirty years making himself untouchable. One morning a single leaked email, two lines long, ends it all by lunchtime. The height he built was a ledge, not a nest.

Only Allah is ʿazīz in the full sense. He is not defending His height; He simply is beyond reach. That is why the ayah does not need to flatter Him. He gains nothing from our acknowledging His might. The question is asked so that the servant, threatened by people who seem powerful, remembers whose reach is real. The ego shrinks, and something steadier takes its place.

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.