Surah 17

Surah 17:38

"All that – the evil of it – is hateful in the sight of your Lord."
Condemnation of strutting Verses 17:37-38
Show Full Scripture Context (17:37-38) — 2 Verses
Verse 37

وَلَا تَمۡشِ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ مَرَحًاۖ إِنَّكَ لَن تَخۡرِقَ ٱلۡأَرۡضَ وَلَن تَبۡلُغَ ٱلۡجِبَالَ طُولٗا

Do not walk on the earth in jubilation. Surely you will not plumb the depths of the earth, nor reach the mountains in height.

Verse 38

كُلُّ ذَٰلِكَ كَانَ سَيِّئُهُۥ عِندَ رَبِّكَ مَكۡرُوهٗا

All that – the evil of it – is hateful in the sight of your Lord.

37. And walk not on the earth with conceit and arrogance. Verily, you can neither rend nor penetrate the earth nor can you attain a stature like the mountains in height.

38. All the bad aspects of these (the above mentioned things) are hateful to your Lord.

Condemnation of strutting

Allah forbids His servants to strut and walk in a boastful manner:

And walk not on the earth with conceit and arrogance.

meaning, walking in boastful manner and acting proud, like those who are arrogant oppressors.

Verily, you can neither rend nor penetrate the earth
means, you cannot penetrate the earth with your walking. This was the opinion of Ibn Jarir.

nor can you attain a stature like the mountains in height.
means, with your arrogance, pride and self-admiration. Indeed, such behavior may bring about the opposite of what one pretends to be, as was reported in the Sahih:

"While a man from the people before you was walking arrogantly in his garments, the earth swallowed him and he is still sinking down into it, until the Day of Resurrection."

Allah also tells us about Qarun, who went to his people wearing his finery, then Allah caused the earth to swallow him and his house.

All the bad aspects of these (the above mentioned things) are Sayi'uhu [hateful] to your Lord.

Some scholars recite this as Sayi'atan, meaning evil deeds, i.e., everything mentioned is forbidden, from the Ayah,

And kill not your children for fear of poverty [17:31]
up to this [38] Ayah. So everything that is mentioned here is a Sayi'ah (evil deed) for which a person is to be blamed before Allah, Who does not like or accept these deeds. As for the recitation Sayi'uhu, it is a genitive construction, meaning the bad aspects of these i.e., everything mentioned from the Ayah,

And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him [17:23]

up to this Ayah, [17:38] meaning that the worst of these mentioned are disliked by Allah. This was the view of Ibn Jarir, may Allah have mercy on him.

— from Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Vol. 5, Page 623)

About this Source & Scholarly Authority (Tafsir Ibn Kathir)

Universal Sunni Consensus: Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Azim by Hafiz Ibn Kathir (701–774 AH / 1301–1373 AD) is universally regarded across all major schools of Sunni Islam (traditional, Salafi, Ash'ari) as the most authoritative classical exegesis. It is prized because it relies on Tafsir bil-Ma'thur—interpreting the Quran using the Quran itself, authentic Hadiths of Prophet Muhammad, and recorded statements of the early Companions (Sahabah).

Standard English Edition: This text is from the standard 10-volume English abridgment published by Dar-us-Salam Publications (supervised by Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri), which is the official, most widely distributed English Quranic commentary in mosques and Islamic libraries worldwide today.