Why Are People Crushed?Two Forms of Arrogance Warned of in the Qur’ān
Abstract
This essay examines contemporary violence in the Middle East through a theological perspective grounded in the Qur’an. It argues that Qur’anic revelation should not be understood solely as what is sent down (munzūl), but also as what is to be observed (manẓūr). The Qur’an repeatedly commands human beings to “look” and to observe the changing signs of creation. Genuine interpretation of revelation, therefore, emerges through a continuous movement between these two dimensions: the revealed text and the observable signs of the world.
When this movement is abandoned and the observation of change is neglected, institutions that refuse transformation tend to replace God. What was once a living religious response becomes a rigid political structure in which preservation of authority takes precedence over attentive observation. Such institutionalization risks turning religion itself into an object of deification.
At the same time, overwhelming military violence that assumes the authority to determine the fate of entire populations represents another form of arrogance — an attempt by human beings to carry out divine judgment with their own hands.
The Qur’an repeatedly describes the ultimate outcome of such arrogance with the expression jāthimīn (جاثمين), a state in which people collapse into motionless stillness within the very spaces of their daily lives. Through this concept, the essay argues that both political violence and the rigid institutionalization of religion may lead not to justice but to the paralysis and collapse of civilization itself.
Why must people be killed?
During the daytime of the month of Ramaḍān, bombs fall with pinpoint precision on a school. The mere thought of such a scene causes anger to rise within us, and at the same time fills us with fear. For example, a girls’ school in Mīnāb, Iran, where more than 175 students and staff members were reportedly killed.[1] Or the building associated with religious figures in Qom[2].
The president boasts of the success of the airstrikes, emphasizing that even potential successors were eliminated.[3] Years of patient negotiations over nuclear development appear to count for nothing. This is hardly surprising for a president who withdraws without hesitation from international climate frameworks and from support for the United Nations. Yet he presses further, insisting that his own involvement is indispensable in the selection of the successor to Mr. Khamenei.[4]
In such circumstances, democracy and popular sovereignty appear to have been crushed together with the schoolchildren themselves. Do they believe that the citizens of an “evil state” deserve to be killed? Is this a sign of the disappearance of civilization itself?
The Exchange of “Devil” Labels
Calling the United States or Israel “evil” or “devilish” has long been a familiar rhetorical device on the Iranian side as well. Its justification is often sought in the revelation of the Holy Qur’an — the expression “the accursed devil as a clear enemy,” a formulaic phrase found repeatedly throughout the scripture.
Regardless of ethnicity or race, however, there should be no human beings who are completely evil, nor human beings who are devils themselves. Yet people seize upon entire populations and hurl such words at them. The flames of hatred grow ever stronger, inevitably provoking a chain reaction from the other side. Even when actual violence and killing follow, it scarcely troubles those involved, since each side believes it is exercising justice.
Yet when one looks at individuals, one finds neither perfect evil nor perfect devils. Is it not evident that what dominates both sides is the abandonment of observation and the suspension of thought?
Two Revelations
In Arabic, each verse revealed through divine revelation is called an āyah. Since it was sent down to Muḥammad from Allāh through Jibrīl, it is described as munzūl (منزول), the passive participle of the verb nazala (نزل), “to send down.”
One might think that revelation consists only of this. Yet besides what is “sent down,” there are also āyāt that may be described as manẓūr (منظور) — that which is “to be observed.”
A representative example is the verse: “Let man look at his food” (Qur’an 80:24). Such verses include the verb naẓara (نظر), meaning to look carefully and consciously — to observe. From this triliteral root derives the word naẓẓārah (نظارة), meaning “eyeglasses,” which may help us grasp the image.
These verses appear in the form of commands such as “Look carefully,” or “Let the human being observe.” If one follows this command of revelation and observes patiently over time, whether grapes, date palms, or olives, one notices that each exists in a state of continual change.
When one realizes that this change itself is brought about by the Creator, Allāh, reverence toward Him naturally deepens.
Thus there are two kinds of revelation: the revelation that is sent down, and the revelation that is observed. Only through a constant movement between these two can interpretations arise that even partially accord with the intention of Allāh.
Unbelief in the Form of Deification
However, when the gaze toward the changes of all things — toward what may be called the “observed” form of revelation — is abandoned, institutions that refuse change begin to take the place of God.
What was once a living response becomes a state apparatus, an authority structure, and eventually a fixed system of legal operation in which “preserving” takes precedence over “seeing.” In such circumstances, it becomes difficult to incorporate the changing realities of people and society.
In the end, the institution itself becomes deified as the only god. Only rigid systems of authority remain. In such a condition, the faith of Islam is gravely wounded.
On the other hand, there are also those who attempt to replace God by ignoring the existence of Allāh and His creation altogether. In the present case, the overwhelming use of violence by the United States and Israel may indeed be called an act of attempting to execute divine judgment with their own hands.
The Consequence of Abandoning Observation
Among the āyāt belonging to the “observed” form of revelation is the exhortation: “Travel through the earth and see what was the end of those who denied the truth.”
Despite this appeal of revelation — to observe change carefully — the arrogance of those who behave as if they themselves had taken the place of God knows no limit. Its final outcome is jāthimīn (جاثمين) — a state of crouching helplessness in which all movement ceases.[5]
The peoples of ʿĀd (Qur’an 7:78), the people of Shuʿayb (7:91), the people of Thamūd (11:67, 94), and the people of Madyan (29:37) were forced into this final stillness within the very spaces of their ordinary lives.
What is being trampled underfoot is not only the lives, livelihoods, and futures of innocent people. It is not merely the national sovereignty of Iran, nor international law, nor humanitarian principles. The very existence of the Creator who sent down the revelation is being denied. This is unbelief in its most extreme form.
The violence of the United States and Israel has forced innocent Iranian people to the ground. At the same time, Iran’s own deified political system stands in danger of collapsing under its own weight. Does not the institutionalization of Islam risk leading to the abandonment of observing change itself?
The Weight of Life
Even the precise prediction of major earthquakes or devastating typhoons remains uncertain. No matter how much one cuts communications networks, monitors the earth from outer space through artificial intelligence, seizes control of the skies, or continues carpet bombing on the ground — even possessing large numbers of nuclear warheads with which to threaten other nations — human beings cannot become the final arbiters of life.
The destination of arrogance is the collapse of entire civilizations into the condition of jāthimīn.
Even the most advanced medicine today, though capable of producing induced pluripotent stem cells or cloning, cannot create human beings themselves. There is no justification for granting such beings the authority over the life and death of others.
We must begin by acknowledging this with humility.
Those who attempt to replace God will eventually force others to the ground — and in the end will themselves be brought down.
“To kill an innocent soul is as if one has killed all humanity; and to save a life is as if one has saved all humanity.”[6]
This principle, revealed in the Qur’an, is not only central to Islam but resonates throughout the entire Abrahamic tradition.
May blessings be upon the patience of those observing the fast of Ramaḍān.
Allāhu maʿakum wa Allāhu aʿlam
(God is with you, and God knows best.)
Footnotes
[1] https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2026030700336&g=int
[2] https://novaist.jp/articles/israel-strikes-qom-assembly/
[3] https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/20260304-GYT1T00352/
[4] https://www.bbc.com/japanese/articles/cpqwx7g9p7vo
[5] The term jāthimīn (جاثمين) is the plural active participle of the root j-th-m (جثم). According to Lisān al-ʿArab, the verb jathama refers not only to a human being crouching or squatting, but also to birds, ostriches, young deer, rabbits, and jerboas crouching down or pressing themselves against the ground.With regard to the Qur’anic expression jāthimīn, the phrase “they became crouching in their dwellings” is interpreted as referring to bodies lying on the ground. Citing Abū al-ʿAbbās, the dictionary explains that they were struck by a calamity and died while crouching. The word jāthim describes the way a bird crouches with its legs folded beneath it. In other words, they were struck by disaster and died while collapsed upon the ground.
[6] The full verse reads as follows:
“Whoever kills a person — unless for murder or for spreading corruption on earth — it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a life, it is as if he has saved all mankind.” (Qur’an 5:32)
This command was established by God for the Children of Israel after the story of Cain killing Abel. Cain, who did not even know how to bury his brother’s body until he learned from a crow, became one of those who regretted his deed (Qur’an 5:31–32).
Special Thanks to: ChatGPT
Title Image:
File:Ancien Théâtre Ancienne Corinthe — Corinthe (GR15) — 2022–03–24–14.jpg
Chabe01, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Acknowledgements
This English version was prepared with the assistance of ChatGPT.
The author gratefully acknowledges its assistance in translation and linguistic clarification.