Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 45 of 165

Al-An'am 6:45

فَقُطِعَ دَابِرُ ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ ۚ وَٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ

“So the people that committed wrong were eliminated. And praise to Allāh, Lord of the worlds.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The wrongdoers were cut off to the last of them, and the ayah closes with praise for the Lord of all the worlds.

A reflection

Every house has a last portrait on the wall

The story that began at 6:42 has reached its end. Nations were tested with hardship, then with ease, then taken. The last line is not an epitaph for them. It is praise for Allah, Lord of the worlds.

Picture the reception of an old family firm. A large oil portrait of the founder hangs behind the desk, as it has for sixty years. Then the firm is bought. Within a week the portrait is lifted down and stacked face to the wall in a storeroom.

Dābir is the last of a people, the one at the very back. When the last is cut, the line is finished. Every human house, firm and dynasty has a last portrait, whether or not anyone has painted it yet. The people in this passage thought they were the permanent part of the scene. They were the passing part.

What remains when the portrait comes down? The ayah answers in four words: praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds. He is not one more house in the street. He is the One who outlasts every street.

That is where the ego is meant to shrink. We speak of 'my legacy' and 'what I built', and half believe our picture is fixed to the wall for good. The ayah does not mock building. It mocks forgetting who remains when the builder is gone.

Does Allah need this praise, then? He does not. He was praised before any creature spoke and would be praised if none ever did. The praise is a truth stated, and the one who states it is the one who gains. Pride cannot survive long beside a sentence like this.

A humble heart asks a quieter question here. It is not how long my name will stay up. It is this: when it comes down, will the One who remains be pleased with what it stood for?

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.