Al Qaṣaṣ

تِلْكَ الدَّارُ الاَخِرَةُ نَجْعَلُهَا لِلَّذِينَ لاَ يُرِيدُونَ عُلُوّاً فِي الاَرْضِ وَلاَ فَسَاداً وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ

83. “That abode of the Hereafter, we assign it for those who do not intend to exalt themselves in the earth nor (to make) mischief and the good end is for the pious ones.”

This verse works the resolution of the story of Korah, indicating that any amassing wealth and self-superiority is the cause of destruction in the world and wretchedness in the Hereafter. According to some Islamic narrations, Hadrat Ali-ibn-Abitalib (as) recited this holy verse for the merchants in the market.¹ A tradition indicates that if a person thinks of himself as superior to another person because of having a better shoelace, he is one of those who intend to exalt themselves in the earth.²

There are many people who, for providing a residence, vehicle, clothing, speech, marriage and nominating their child, do something that they may become recognized in the society and attract people to themselves. Such people, as the above tradition denotes, intend to exalt themselves in the earth and will be deprived from Heaven. After mentioning the agitating story of that rich, proud, and criminal man, i.e., Korah, there is a statement in this verse which, in fact, is a general conclusion from this event.

It says:

Not only they are not self-superior and mischievous, but also they do not even intend to do it. Their heart is free from these affairs and their soul is far from these pollutions. Whatever causes the deprivation of man from the merits of the abode of Hereafter is found, indeed, in these very two things. All sins are concentrated in self-superiority and mischief in the earth. The reason is that whatever Allah has prohibited us from is surely against the system of the creation of man and the development of his entity. Therefore performing it disturbs the system of his life and, thus, it is the source of mischief in the earth.

Even the subject of self-superiority is itself one of the clear expanses of mischief in the earth, but its extraordinary importance has caused it to be mentioned particularly. Islamic narrations have specially emphasized on this subject very much. A tradition from Imam Amir-ul-Mu’minin Ali (as) denotes that he said:

“sometimes it happens that someone likes that his shoelace is better than that of his friend and for this very thing he will be counted in this verse, (because this mood is a small branch of self-superiority).” ³

It is interesting that the author of Kashshaf commentary, after mentioning this tradition says:

“Some of the covetous ones say that according to the sentence:

the word ‘ to exalt ’ mentioned in the abovementioned verse refers to Pharaoh, and according to the sentence:

‘ mischief ’ refers to Korah, and they say he who is not like Pharaoh and Korah, Paradise and the eternal abode belong to him, and thus they send only Pharaoh and Korah and those similar to these two out from Heaven and consider the rest belonging to them.

They have not taken the last sentence of this verse under consideration which says:

such that Ali (as) has taken it in mind.’

The matter that we must add to this statement is that this group of people have been in err even for knowing Pharaoh and Korah, because Pharaoh both exalted in the earth and was a mischief-maker, when the verse says:

And Korah also was both a mischief-maker and exalted according to the sentence which says:

Another tradition about Imam Ali- (as) indicates that during his apparently caliphate, Ali (as) used to walk in the market, leading those who were lost, helping the weak and, when passing by the sellers and trades men, he recited this verse for them:

then he (as) usually said:

“This verse has revealed about the just and humble rulers and also other powerful ones among people.” ⁸

This means that in the same manner that I have not use the government as a means for my self-superiority, you must not use your financial ability as means for your domination over others, either, because the good end belongs to that group who do not want to make mischief and do not seek self-superiority. The Qur’an at the end of the verse says:

The word ‘end’ in its vast concept is ‘the good end’, victory in this world, and Heaven and its bounties in the next world. We saw what an evil fate had the people like Korah and Pharaoh, though their might was unique. Since they were not pious they afflicted the most painful fate. We conclude the speech about this verse by a tradition narrated from Imam Sadiq (as). It happened that when Imam Sadiq (as) recited this verse he began weeping and said:

“By Allah! With this verse, all of the hopes have entirely perished,”

and it is difficult to gain the good abode of Hereafter.⁹