At-Tur · Makki · ayah 10 of 49

At-Tur 52:10

وَتَسِيرُ ٱلْجِبَالُ سَيْرًا

“And the mountains will pass on, departing[1553] -”

Saheeh International

Essence

The mountains, the most settled things on earth, will set off like a caravan; nothing here was ever meant to stay, and neither were you.

A reflection

The Mount of the first ayah walks

A geology student holds a piece of rock in her palm. Her lecturer tells her it formed before the first dinosaurs. She turns it over slowly. It is the oldest thing she has ever touched, and it fits in her hand.

This surah opened with a mountain. Wa-ṭ-ṭūr: by the Mount, the green mountain where Allah spoke to Mūsā (as). Nine ayat later, the mountains appear again, and this time they are leaving. Wa-tasīru l-jibālu sayran: and the mountains move away, travelling. The commentaries say they will move from their places across the earth and become scattered dust.

The mountain sworn by in the first ayah is not exempt. And the Quran has already told us what happened to that very mountain once before. When Mūsā (as) asked to see his Lord, Allah told him to look at the mountain: if it stays in its place, you will see Me. And when his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, He made it level, and Mūsā fell down unconscious (7:143).

So the Ṭūr has already been tested. A single manifestation of Allah's majesty was enough to flatten it. On the Day described here, every mountain will travel.

There is a humbling lesson in this for anyone who leans on old and solid things. Family names that go back centuries. Institutions that have always been there. Traditions that seem as permanent as rock. They are real, and often good. But the oldest thing on earth fits in the hand of its Maker.

The student puts the rock back in its tray. It will outlast her. But not forever.

Ask yourself which old, solid thing you have been treating as if it could never move. Thank Allah for it, and remember who made it, and who will one day move it.

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.