“Allah sends down water from the sky, and the valleys flow according to their capacity. The flood carries upon its surface a rising foam… In this way Allah presents the example of truth and falsehood. The foam is cast away, while what benefits people remains upon the earth.”
Surah Ar-Ra‘d, 13:17
A person often assumes that whatever appears on top is powerful.
The one whose voice is loud is considered right,
the one with the largest crowd is considered lasting,
the one with the greatest wealth is considered valuable,
and the one who holds power is considered invincible.
Yet when explaining the difference between truth and falsehood, the Qur’an points to a very simple event in nature:
Rain falls.
The valleys fill.
The water begins to move.
Foam forms upon its surface.
At first sight, it is the foam that can be seen. It is on top, it is moving and it occupies a wide area.
But foam has no substance.
After a while, it disappears. The water that benefits people remains.
Al-Qahhār is the One who disperses false greatness, brings the temporary dominion of falsehood to an end and returns everything to its true measure.
Divine Subjugation Does Not Mean Punishment Alone
When the name Al-Qahhār is heard, a person may think only of punishment.
Yet divine subjugation means that no false power can remain standing for ever before Allah.
Time subdues youth.
Death subdues worldly power.
Truth subdues falsehood.
Humility subdues pride.
Repentance subdues the dominion of sin over a person.
Patience subdues hardship’s power to corrupt the heart.
The manifestation of Al-Qahhār does not occur only outside the human being.
It also works within.
The ego’s claim to greatness is broken.
False sources of security collapse.
The transience of what was thought permanent becomes apparent.
A person recognises their own helplessness.
Divine subjugation, therefore, is not always intended to destroy.
Sometimes it is intended to free a person from falsehood and return them to the truth.
Its aspect opening towards mercy
is that it frees a person from false supports.
The Difference Between Water and Foam
The water in Surah Ar-Ra‘d gives life.
It revives the soil.
It relieves thirst.
It causes crops to grow.
As it passes through the valley, it leaves benefit behind.
Foam appears upon the movement of the water, but it does not possess the essence of water.
It is noisy but useless.
It is on top but has no roots.
It is highly visible but does not last.
There are also things in human life that resemble water and things that resemble foam.
Those resembling water are:
faith,
truthfulness,
beneficial knowledge,
beautiful character,
justice,
patience,
mercy,
and the goodness left behind for others.
Those resembling foam are:
display,
manufactured reputation,
pride,
success magnified through lies,
fame dependent only upon applause,
and noise that produces no benefit.
The law given by the Qur’an is clear:
What is temporary rises; what is lasting remains.
Being Visible and Being Valuable Are Not the Same
Foam is more visible than water.
But it is not more valuable.
This measure is extremely important for people today because visibility is often mistaken for value.
It may be thought that whatever is widely discussed is important,
whatever receives the most applause is successful,
whatever has the most followers is true,
and whatever appears everywhere will last.
Yet visibility is only visibility.
A person’s true value is understood not by how much attention they attract, but by how much goodness they leave behind.
A child raised quietly,
a trust protected without anyone knowing,
help given without wounding another person’s dignity,
a beneficial work maintained patiently for years…
These things may make no noise.
But like water, they give life.
Truth is not always found in the most visible place.
Sometimes the things that last longest grow in silence.
Why Does Falsehood Rise for a Time?
A person wants the truth to prevail immediately.
When a lie is told, let it be exposed on the same day.
When injustice is committed, let its consequence appear immediately.
Let what is false collapse without delay.
Yet foam too is carried upon the surface of the water for a time.
Being allowed to appear does not mean that it will last.
Sometimes the rise of falsehood allows:
the emptiness within it to become visible,
those who attach themselves to it to be revealed,
the line between right and wrong to become clearer,
and the true choices of people to emerge.
Dark periods are sometimes the times when masks fall.
It is during such times that we discover whether people choose the truth only in times of comfort or also when it demands a price.
Without separation, light cannot always be seen fully.
A person who believes in Al-Qahhār does not mistake the temporary rise of falsehood for its ultimate victory.
Respite Is Not Permanence
The continuation of a wrong for a long time does not make it right.
The fact that a person does not immediately face a consequence does not mean that their actions remain beyond accountability.
Allah granting respite and Allah being pleased are not the same thing.
A person may look at the lengthening of time and think:
“Perhaps this order will continue like this for ever.”
Yet throughout history, many structures that appeared powerful have disappeared. Many people rose through wealth and fame, only for even their names to be forgotten.
But a goodness that appeared small may continue to live within people’s lives for centuries.
For permanence is determined not by visible power, but by attachment to truth.
A long life for falsehood
does not make it eternal.
Al-Qahhār does not allow any false dominion to become everlasting.
The Foam Within the Human Being
Foam is not found only in the world outside.
Foam also forms within the human heart.
A person achieves success and begins to regard themselves as indispensable.
They acquire some knowledge and think they now know everything.
They gain an opportunity and consider it proof of their superiority.
They receive attention from people and begin to measure their worth through applause.
These are the foams that form upon the heart.
Beneath them lie the ability, lifetime, health, opportunity and assistance given by Allah. But the person forgets the water and imagines that the foam belongs to them.
Sometimes Al-Qahhār disperses this illusion through an event.
The person sees their limit.
They encounter things they cannot control.
They arrive at a place where their own strength is insufficient.
This moment may feel heavy.
But if a person is freed from the illusion:
“I am doing everything,”
the breaking becomes a door to truth.
The depth of servanthood does not always open before pride is broken.
Modern Idols
An idol is not merely a figure carved from stone.
Anything to which the heart attributes power independent of Allah may become an idol.
Wealth may say:
“It will keep me safe.”
Position may say:
“I am superior to others.”
The crowd may say:
“So many people cannot be wrong.”
Reason may say:
“What I cannot understand cannot be real.”
The ego may say:
“Without me, everything will fall apart.”
All of these are created. None can stand by itself.
Wealth may be lost.
Position may come to an end.
The crowd may disperse.
Reason may be mistaken.
A person may become tired and will die.
The name Al-Qahhār teaches the heart:
Do not attribute eternity to what is temporary.
Do not surrender your heart to what cannot carry you.
Breaking the Idol of “I”
A person’s most hidden idol is their own ego.
The ego does not appear only through obvious pride.
Sometimes it speaks like this:
“I am more right than everyone else.”
“My intention cannot be questioned.”
“I do not make mistakes.”
“Without me, this work cannot continue.”
“No one has the right to warn me.”
This condition closes a person to learning, repentance and advice.
A person who makes a mistake may turn back from it.
But someone who regards themselves as incapable of error closes the door of return with their own hands.
The mercy of Al-Qahhār within the heart is that He breaks this false greatness.
A person does not become smaller by accepting their helplessness.
They return to their proper position.
The dignity of the servant lies not in considering themselves great,
but in knowing their limits before Allah’s greatness.
Loss Sometimes Reveals the True Nature of an Attachment
When a person loses something, they do not merely separate from it.
They also see the nature of the bond they had formed with it.
When they lose wealth, they recognise where they had placed their security;
when they lose reputation, from whom they expected their worth;
when they lose power, who they really are;
when their plans are disrupted, their desire for control.
Loss does not always mean that a person has done something wrong.
But every loss may become a mirror through which the heart sees its attachments.
A person should ask:
“Was what I lost a blessing,
or had it gradually become a support that I placed before my Lord?”
Sometimes Al-Qahhār breaks not the blessing, but the mistaken meaning attached to it.
A person then learns to return the blessing to its proper place:
They love, but do not worship.
They use, but do not claim absolute ownership.
They give thanks, but do not place it at the centre of their security.
Fire, Foam and Essence
Following the path of these notes, some of life’s trials resemble fire.
Fire reveals the essence of a metal.
The part without value is separated and what is precious becomes distinct.
When hardship arrives, what lies within a person may also be revealed.
Will fear turn into panic?
Will anger corrupt justice?
Will loss weaken faith?
Will waiting drive the person towards a false path?
When there is patience, the foam recedes and the essence remains.
Patience here does not mean merely enduring.
As a person passes through the fire, they preserve their truth:
they do not lie,
they do not rely upon oppression,
they do not turn towards what is forbidden,
they do not abandon goodness,
and they do not surrender their heart to hatred.
The magnitude of a trial is understood not only by what we lose,
but by which essence remains behind.
Al-Qahhār and Death
The world gives a person a sense of permanence.
Houses are built.
Wealth is accumulated.
Titles are obtained.
Names are magnified.
But death brings every temporary superiority to the same line.
The Qur’an asks:
“To whom does all sovereignty belong today?”
And answers:
“To Allah, the One, Al-Qahhār.”
Surah Ghāfir, 40:16
Death shows a person that they are the true owner of nothing.
Position remains at the door.
Wealth passes to someone else.
Titles remain in the world.
A person comes before Allah with only what they have done.
This truth does not diminish the value of life.
On the contrary, it gives life its true measure.
A person who knows their mortality uses temporary things for eternal values.
What Will Remain?
A person should consider what they will take with them at the end of life.
Not the possessions they owned, but how they used them will remain.
Not their power, but how they behaved while power was in their hands will remain.
Not their conversations, but which hearts they wounded or repaired through their words will remain.
Not their fame, but the benefit they added to humanity will remain.
Not the stories manufactured about them, but the true story known by Allah will remain.
Water remains because it brings benefit.
Foam disappears because it has no essence.
Life gains value not through how high we rise,
but through how much benefit we leave behind.
The Character Al-Qahhār Teaches His Servant
When a person comes to know the name Al-Qahhār, they do not regard themselves as responsible for crushing others.
The servant should not be one who crushes, but one who strives to overcome the falsehood within their own ego.
Within themselves, they try to overcome:
pride through humility,
lies through truthfulness,
hatred through justice,
display through sincerity,
laziness through responsibility,
and despair through faith.
Before investigating the faults of others, they look at the foam within themselves.
For it is a great contradiction to oppose falsehood outside while surrendering to the falsehood of one’s own ego.
The lesson of the name Al-Qahhār for our character is this:
Do not try to crush someone else;
try to overcome the falsehood within yourself.
Why Does Truth Remain?
Truth remains because its source is not human approval.
It does not come into being through a vote.
It does not change through the decisions of the powerful.
It does not take a different form according to the fashion of the age.
Truthfulness, justice, mercy and faithfulness to a trust may be portrayed as worthless today. But their essence does not change.
Falsehood, however, continually needs support.
It must be repeated, decorated, protected through fear and constantly given a new appearance.
For it has no essence through which it can stand by itself.
Truth may sometimes be silent, but it is heavy.
Falsehood may sometimes be noisy, but it is light.
Noise may remain on the surface;
truth lies deep.
Through the judgement of Al-Qahhār, the foam disperses and everything returns to its true weight.
The Person Who Knows Al-Qahhār
A person who carries the name Al-Qahhār within the heart:
does not immediately assume that what is visible will last,
does not make the crowd the measure of truth,
distinguishes fame from value,
does not lose direction before the temporary rise of falsehood,
does not mistake respite for divine approval,
struggles against the pride and display within themselves,
allows their losses to reveal mistaken attachments within the heart,
does not possess temporary things as though they were eternal,
tries to overcome the wrong within their own ego instead of crushing others,
and wishes to leave behind benefit rather than noise.
Their fundamental question is not:
“How visible am I today?”
It is:
“When the foam recedes, what will remain of me?”
The Heart Key of This Lesson
What is temporary rises; what is lasting remains.
The noise of the foam does not diminish the value of the water.
The fact that falsehood remains visible for a time does not mean that it will last.
Al-Qahhār disperses false greatness and returns the human being to their true measure.
I am responsible not for crushing others, but for overcoming the pride, lies and display within myself.
At the end of my life, appearances will not remain; benefit will.
Prayer
Yā Qahhār,
Remove from our hearts every false support placed before You.
Protect us from regarding wealth, position, people, crowds, our reason or our own egos as absolute power.
Enable us to overcome our pride through humility, our display through sincerity, our falsehood through truthfulness and our despair through faith.
Protect us from assuming that falsehood will last when it rises, from doubting the truth in the face of noise and from mistaking visibility for value.
Teach us to see the mistaken attachments of our hearts within our losses and to turn more truly towards You when we are broken.
Grant us not a life that appears abundant like foam yet remains without benefit, but a life that quietly gives life like water.
We seek refuge in You from crushing others, boasting of our power and magnifying our egos in the name of truth.
Enable us to understand our mortality before death arrives, to regard what we possess as a trust and to leave benefit behind for others.
And place this divine law firmly within our hearts:
The foam is cast away.
What benefits people remains.
No matter how high falsehood may rise,
the final judgement belongs to Allah, the One, Al-Qahhār.
Āmīn.