Ad-Dukhan · Makki · ayah 17 of 59

Ad-Dukhan 44:17

۞ وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَجَآءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ كَرِيمٌ

“And We had already tried before them the people of Pharaoh, and there came to them a noble messenger [i.e., Moses],”

Saheeh International

Essence

Before Quraysh, the mightiest kingdom of its age was put through the fire like metal, and a noble messenger was sent into the test.

A reflection

The examiner was being examined

Picture a celebrated chef on the judging panel of a televised cooking contest. He tastes each dish with a raised eyebrow and delivers verdicts that make contestants cry. He has no idea what is happening in his own restaurant that same evening. At table four, a quiet inspector is working through his menu with a notebook. The judge is also being judged.

Pharaoh's people saw themselves as the judges of their world. They decided who would be enslaved and who would rule, which children lived and which did not. The commentaries describe them as the Copts of Egypt, a people of gardens, springs and fine dwellings.

This ayah turns the camera round. Wa-laqad fatannā: and We tested them. The most powerful kingdom of its age was not the examiner. It was the candidate.

That is where the ego shrinks to its proper size. Every person who holds power, over a country, a company, a household, a classroom, tends to see themselves at the judging table. The Qur'an places them on the other side of it. Their power is the exam paper. How they use it is the answer.

One commentator lists several things the testing could mean. It could be the respite and wide provision Allah gave them, which they used for sin. It could be the sending of Musa, to see whether they would believe. Either way, the testing came from above, from the One no empire examines.

Some hear 'We tested them' as a God toying with nations. But the ayah's purpose is the opposite of cruelty. It explains to Quraysh, and to every reader, that greatness on earth is a trust under review. Nobody is too big to be tested, and nobody is too small to pass.

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.