An-Nazi'at · Makki · ayah 37 of 46

An-Nazi'at 79:37

فَأَمَّا مَن طَغَىٰ

“So as for he who transgressed”

Saheeh International

Essence

The word first used for Pharaoh now opens to everyone, because any of us can burst our banks.

A reflection

Pharaoh's word, open to anyone

A twelve-year-old is made a prefect. On the first day, the badge feels like a responsibility. By the third week, he is shouting at younger children in the corridor for walking on the wrong side, and enjoying it. Nobody gave him an army or a throne. They gave him a badge, and a small flood began to rise over its banks.

Twenty ayat ago, Allah said of Pharaoh: innahu ṭaghā, he has transgressed (79:17). Now the same verb returns, but the subject has changed. Fa-ammā man ṭaghā: as for whoever transgressed. Not 'as for Pharaoh', but anyone. The narration-based commentator glosses it simply: whoever rebelled and was insolent.

That shift is the point of telling the story at all. Pharaoh was not a unique monster from a distant age. He was a human being who let power rise over its proper banks. The quality that destroyed him is available to every one of us, in proportion to whatever power we hold.

A manager with a small team, a parent, an older sibling, an online moderator, a prefect with a badge: all hold a little authority. All can overflow. The Quran's warning is not addressed only to kings.

The lexicons describe ṭughyān as a torrent that comes down with more water than its bed can hold. Most people who overflow do not notice the moment. The rise is gradual: a raised voice becomes normal, a small cruelty becomes a habit, and the channel is gone.

That is why self-examination matters more than judgement of others. It is easy to read this passage and think of tyrants on the news. It is harder, and more useful, to ask where in my own small kingdom the water is rising.

This week, think of one person over whom you have some power. Ask honestly: am I serving them within my banks, or have I started to flood them?

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.