Al-Qamar · Makki · ayah 51 of 55

Al-Qamar 54:51

وَلَقَدْ أَهْلَكْنَآ أَشْيَاعَكُمْ فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ

“And We have already destroyed your kinds,[1590] so is there any who will remember?”

Saheeh International

Essence

After every story, the surah names them as people of your own kind, already destroyed, and asks once more: will anyone take it to heart?

A reflection

The bird that throws itself into the ravine

On a moorland walk, a birdwatcher sees a small game bird burst up from the heather with a hawk close behind. In its panic it does not fly to cover. It hurls itself straight down a steep gully, where the fall does what the hawk could not.

The root of ahlaknā, We destroyed, carries a picture like that. The lexicons say it means breaking and falling. A sandgrouse fleeing the falcon would hurl itself into places of ruin. The drop between two mountains was a hulk. A desert where travellers perished was a mahlaka. And a man who spent his wealth down to nothing was said to have ruined it. This picture is established.

There is a strange psychology in that image. The sandgrouse is not caught by the falcon. It ruins itself fleeing. Panic drives it towards the very drop that kills it.

The peoples of this surah fled, too. They fled from a message that frightened their pride. A prophet who would humble them, a sign that would change their lives, a warning that would cost them their habits. In running from what they feared, they threw themselves down the ravine. The destruction was Allah's act, as the ayah says plainly. But the road to it was their flight.

Many people still do this. They run from a truth because facing it would hurt, and the running takes them somewhere far worse. They avoid a hard conversation and lose the relationship. They avoid opening the bank letters and lose the house.

This is also where the ego is cut down to size. Ahlaknā: We destroyed. Whole nations, with their strength and their numbers, were simply ended by the One who speaks this ayah. Pride imagines it can outrun Him, as the bird imagines it can outrun the falcon. There is nowhere to run that is not His. Is this Allah delighting in destruction? No. The surah has shown warning after warning first. The ayah names the end so that we stop fleeing in the wrong direction.

When you feel the urge to flee from something true, stop for a moment. Ask whether the thing behind you is really more dangerous than the drop ahead.

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.