Everything you can see, touch, lose, or love will perish. Everything except One.

The story

The closing of Surah al-Qasas. Surah al-Qasas tells the story of Moses from infancy through prophethood, the destruction of Pharaoh, the wealth of Qarun (Korah) and his being swallowed by the earth, and various lessons about power and arrogance. The surah's closing verse strips all of that history down to its essential point: every Pharaoh, every Qarun, every kingdom, will perish. Only He remains.

The hadith of Labid the poet. Sahih Bukhari (Book of Adab) and Sahih Muslim record from Abu Hurayrah: the Prophet ﷺ said: 'The truest word a poet has spoken is the saying of Labid: ''everything except Allah is false.''' Labid ibn Rabi'ah was one of the seven famous pre-Islamic poets of the Mu'allaqat (the suspended odes). He later embraced Islam and lived to old age. The Prophet ﷺ rarely praised poetry; this praise is one of the most striking endorsements in the hadith corpus.

The 'Wajh' (Face) of Allah. Classical Sunni commentators (Ibn Kathir, al-Tabari) treat the term as referring to Allah Himself, without giving it a corporeal meaning. The Salaf (early generations) had a precise rule: affirm the term as it appears in the Quran, do not deny it (ta'til), do not give it a created form (tashbih), do not question its 'how' (takyif). 'Allah's Face' refers to Allah's presence, His being, in a way that is real but unlike any creature's face.

Position in the Quran. This verse and 55:26-27 form a Quranic pair on the same theme. Both passages assert that everything created will perish, and only the Face of Allah remains. Different surahs, same theology.

In the language

'Halikun' (perishing). The word the verse uses is the active participle halik, 'one that is perishing.' Some classical commentators read this as a present-tense reality: everything is currently in the state of perishing, decaying, ceasing. Not just 'will perish' (future), but 'is perishing right now' (continuous). Every moment, the seen world is dying. Only Allah is not.

'Illa Wajhah' (except His Face). The exception clause uses Wajh ('Face') to refer to Allah Himself. Arabic uses 'face' as a synecdoche for the whole person (similar to English 'no one showed up' meaning 'no individual person'). When the Quran says 'except His Face,' it means 'except Him.' But the choice of Wajh, rather than another word, is theologically intentional: it is Allah's direct presence that remains.

'Lahu al-hukm' (His is the Judgement). Hukm in Arabic covers both 'judgement' and 'sovereignty/dominion.' The verse uses both meanings simultaneously: He alone has the authority to judge, and He alone has dominion over what He judges. Some commentators (al-Tabari) read 'His is the rule' (sovereignty); others 'His is the verdict' (judgement). Both readings are textually supported.

'Wa ilayhi turja'un' (and to Him you will be returned). The verb is in the passive voice (turja'un, 'you will be returned'), not active (tarji'un, 'you will return'). The grammar matters: the return is not a choice; it is something that happens to you. Allah brings everyone back. The passive enacts the inescapability.

Why this verse

The closing verse of Surah al-Qasas. The Prophet ﷺ called this the truest line ever spoken by an Arab poet: 'everything except Allah is false.'

Bring it into today

The verse is a tool against attachment.

Most human suffering comes from attaching the heart to things that, by definition, will not last: bodies, relationships, careers, reputations, possessions, life itself. The verse names this category in one phrase: kullu shay'in halikun - every thing is perishing.

This is not a counsel of detachment from creation. The Prophet ﷺ loved his wife Khadijah, his daughter Fatimah, his Companions, his community. He grieved when his son died. Love and care for created things is part of being human. What the verse adjusts is the weight given to each: the love is in proportion to the lasting, and the lasting is what comes from Him alone.

A practical exercise: when you next find yourself anxious about losing something or someone, ask: 'Is this perishing or eternal?' If the answer is perishing (and almost always it will be), the anxiety is at least partially answered. The thing was always going to be lost. The question is what you did with it while it was here, because that is what is going back with you to the One whose Face remains.