Surah Ar-Rahman 55:26
سُورَةُ الرَّحۡمَٰن · Medinan · Verse 26 of 78
كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍۢ
Translation
Everyone on earth perishes;
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Everyone upon it will perish.' al-Saadi and Ibn Ashur note the sweep of 'kullu man 'alayha fan', every single being on the earth, without exception, is passing away; impermanence is the one universal fact. Ask yourself: I live as though I am the fixed point and the world moves around me, as though everyone else is mortal in theory but I am somehow the exception. This verse admits no exception: everyone upon it. The people I lean on, the self I defend so fiercely, all of it is en route to vanishing. Rather than morbid, this is clarifying: if everything on the earth is temporary, then anchoring my heart to any of it is anchoring to something already dissolving. What am I holding as permanent that this verse says is already leaving?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Ar-Rahman 55:26 is discussed in 6 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Ar-Rahman 55:26 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.