Ad-Dukhan · Makki · ayah 37 of 59

Ad-Dukhan 44:37

أَهُمْ خَيْرٌ أَمْ قَوْمُ تُبَّعٍ وَٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ أَهْلَكْنَـٰهُمْ ۖ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ مُجْرِمِينَ

“Are they better or the people of Tubbaʿ[1464] and those before them? We destroyed them, [for] indeed, they were criminals.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Are the deniers of Makkah stronger than the mighty people of Tubbaʿ and the nations before them, whom Allah destroyed for their crimes?

A reflection

Stronger than Himyar?

A-hum khayrun am qawmu tubbaʿ: are they better, or the people of Tubbaʿ?

The Quraysh knew exactly who was meant. Tubbaʿ was the title of the kings of Yemen, the Himyarites, as Pharaoh was the title of Egypt's kings and Caesar of Rome's. The commentaries record the stories that circulated about them. Armies marching as far as Samarqand. Cities founded. One king who signed his letters in the name of the One who owns land and sea.

One commentary preserves a report about why this people was chosen as the example. They lived near Makkah, and they were great in the eyes of Quraysh. The point is then spelled out. If Allah destroyed them, with all their might, then those with a weaker hand and fewer numbers are even closer to ruin.

The commentaries agree on what better means here. Not better in goodness, since there was none in either. Better in strength, in power, in protection.

A man runs a small hardware shop in a market town. He tells his customers his business is too solid to fail. Only a month earlier, the famous national chain he used to admire went into administration. Its stores are boarded up on the high street. He walks past them every morning. He still thinks it could never happen to him.

That is the ego's blindness, and this ayah aims straight at it. We look at the fall of the great and assume we are different. Smaller, yes, but safer.

Allah's question cuts through it. Ahlaknāhum: We destroyed them. Not their enemies. Not time. We. Himyar's armies could not hold back His decree for a single day. Whatever we are proud of, our position, our money, our certainty, it is smaller than Tubbaʿ's kingdom. And that kingdom fell.

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.