Surah Al-Mulk 67:16
سُورَةُ المُلۡكِ · Meccan · Verse 16 of 30
ءَأَمِنتُم مَّن فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ أَن يَخْسِفَ بِكُمُ ٱلْأَرْضَ فَإِذَا هِىَ تَمُورُ
Translation
Are you sure that He who is in Heaven will not make the earth swallow you up with a violent shudder?
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Do you feel secure that the One above will not cause the earth to swallow you, so that it suddenly heaves?' Ibn Ashur and al-Biqa'i note the turn from evidence to warning: the very ground just described as 'tamed' for you is held steady only by His will, and the question exposes a false sense of safety. al-Saadi reads it as a mercy in disguise: He is able to seize the heedless at any moment, yet He forbears and delays. Ask yourself: the solidity I stand on, I never once secured; it is on loan, moment by moment. Do I mistake His patience for His absence, reading the fact that nothing has collapsed as proof that nothing can?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i, al-Saadi.
Topics that discuss this verse
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