An-Nazi'at · Makki · ayah 17 of 46

An-Nazi'at 79:17

ٱذْهَبْ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ إِنَّهُۥ طَغَىٰ

“"Go to Pharaoh. Indeed, he has transgressed.”

Saheeh International

Essence

With one word, 'Go', the Lord of the worlds sends a former fugitive to the most powerful man on earth.

A reflection

The man whose name was on everything

In some towns one family owns almost everything. Their name is on the hospital wing, the football ground, the library and the biggest factory. The local paper never criticises them. Councillors return their calls within the hour. After a generation, people half forget that the family is not a law of nature.

Pharaoh was that family, magnified to the size of a country. His name was on everything in Egypt. His word was law, his statues filled the temples, and he would soon claim to be its highest lord. No one in the land would have dared to walk into his court uninvited.

Then, in a remote valley, the Lord of the worlds says one word to a traveller. Idhhab: go. Go to Pharaoh.

There is no negotiation in it, no build-up, no recognition of Pharaoh's rank. The most powerful man on earth is simply a destination. Allah does not need armies to reach him. He sends a man who had once fled that very country in fear, with a staff in his hand.

This is how the Quran shrinks the ego of the powerful. Pharaoh's greatness, which filled every horizon in Egypt, is reduced to an address. Whatever we have built our sense of importance on, a title, a following, a family name, is no larger than that before Allah.

A doubt may occur to a reader. Why go to Pharaoh at all? Is this a display, a heavenly show of force against an earthly king? The sources point in the opposite direction. The sending is mercy before judgement. The Quran says: 'We never punish until We have sent a messenger' (17:15). Before Pharaoh was drowned, he was visited, invited and shown signs. Allah gained nothing by it; He needs no one's obedience. The sending was for Pharaoh's sake, and for the people under him.

The town's great family will pass, as Pharaoh passed. The only name that stays on everything is the One who said 'Go'.

The full entry has 4 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.