Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 30 of 165

Al-An'am 6:30

وَلَوْ تَرَىٰٓ إِذْ وُقِفُوا۟ عَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ ۚ قَالَ أَلَيْسَ هَـٰذَا بِٱلْحَقِّ ۚ قَالُوا۟ بَلَىٰ وَرَبِّنَا ۚ قَالَ فَذُوقُوا۟ ٱلْعَذَابَ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَكْفُرُونَ

“If you could but see when they will be made to stand before their Lord. He will say, "Is this not the truth?" They will say, "Yes, by our Lord." He will [then] say, "So taste the punishment for what you used to deny."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those who said this life is all there is are made to stand before their Lord, asked one question, and answer it with an oath.

A reflection

Stood, not standing

A company chairman has spent thirty years choosing where he sits. Head of the table, back to the wall, facing the door. Then a parliamentary committee summons him. A clerk he has never met points to one chair facing a curved bench. He sits where he is put, and answers what he is asked.

The ayah uses a passive verb: wuqifū, they were made to stand. Nobody here walks up to make a case. They are brought and placed. The lexicons give the root a sharp picture. The waqīfa was a wild goat cornered on a rock by hounds, unable to climb down, waiting to be taken. Staying put is the whole root, and here the staying is not chosen. The commentaries explain it as being held for His judgement and His questions. One likens it to a servant who has done wrong, stood before his master to be reproached.

Hear it after the ayah before. The same people had said: 'There is nothing but our life of this world, and we will not be raised' (6:29). That was spoken standing up, in a gathering, before an audience they chose. The next scene has no audience they chose. It has 'their Lord'.

Notice that word. Even of people who denied Him, Allah says rabbihim, their Lord. He was their Lord the whole time they argued. Lordship was never put to a vote.

This is where the ego has to shrink. Pride is largely the belief that we choose our own posture: when to stand, where to sit, whose questions to take. Every one of those choices is on loan.

Does Allah need anyone to stand before Him, as a vain ruler needs a crowded court? What follows answers that. He asks one question, about the truth, not about Himself. A court of flatterers exists for a ruler's glory. This hearing exists so that what was denied is finally seen. The humble stand before Him now, by choice, in prayer. That is the only standing still ours to choose.

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.