Al-Mulk (The Sovereignty)

22. Is he who walks prone on his face, more rightly guided or he who walks upright on the Straight Path?

Following the discussion raised in the foregoing blessed Verses regarding the disbelievers and the believers, the blessed Verse in question depicts the states of the two groups of the disbelievers and the believers by an illustration of interest, asking:

“Is he who walks prone on his face, more rightly guided or he who walks upright on the Straight Path?”

The disbelievers, they tyrants, and the arrogant obdurate people are likened to one who crawls on an uneven and meandering road; as a consequence of which he neither sees the road clearly, nor is able to control himself, nor is aware of the impediments and obstacles, nor moves with desirable speed, but he walks for a short while and despairs.

Au contraire, the disbelievers are resembled to those who walk upright and traverse an even and straight path with utmost speed, might, awareness, and facility. Such precise and interesting similitude is clearly reflected in the lives of these two groups.

Some Qur’anic exegetes maintain that the twain allude to the Noble Prophet (S) and his uncle, Abu Jahl; though such interpretation reflects few instances without restricting the general contextual meaning of the blessed Verse in question.

Different interpretations have been provided for mukibban ‘ala wajhihi, though the abovementioned meaning is more consistent with its contextual meaning, namely walking or crawling prone. At any rate, these are the sates of the disbelievers and the believers in the Hereafter or in both worlds and there is no reason as to the semantic restriction of the blessed Verse reflecting that they are so in this world and the Hereafter.