وَلَا تَمْشِ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا
Wa lā tamshi fi'l-arḍi maraḥā, innaka lan takhriqa'l-arḍa wa lan tablugha'l-jibāla ṭūlā · Kullu dhālika kāna sayyiʾuhu ʿinda rabbika makrūhā
"Do not walk upon the earth exultantly. You will not split the earth open, nor will you reach the mountains in height. The evil of all this is held loathsome in the sight of your Lord."
The sentence shared with Luqmān
This sentence occurs at 31/18 in Luqmān in exactly the same wording: wa lā tamshi fi'l-arḍi maraḥā. It was treated there, and I rely on that treatment.
| Place | Who says it | What follows |
|---|---|---|
| Luqmān 31/18-19 | Luqmān — to his son | Wa'qṣid fī mashyik wa'ghḍuḍ min ṣawtik — a command of measure |
| al-Isrāʾ 17/37 | The text — to everyone | Innaka lan takhriqa'l-arḍa… — a record of impossibility |
The same prohibition, one supported by a counsel and the other by a reminder of fact. This is an overlap between sūras that can be verified.
And at 25/63 in al-Furqān the same field was given from the positive side: yamshūna ʿala'l-arḍi hawnā. Three sūras tie the manner of walking to a measure:
| Place | Form |
|---|---|
| Luqmān 31/18-19 | Prohibition + a command of measure |
| al-Furqān 25/63 | An attribute — the servants of al-Raḥmān |
| al-Isrāʾ 17/37 | Prohibition + a ground |
The root: overflowing joy, being carried out of oneself, swaying with self-importance. The lexicographers record the word both for joy spilling over and for a proud swagger.
The word stands as a circumstantial accusative (maraḥā): "exultantly" — that is, what is forbidden is not the walking but the manner of the walk.
The ground the verse gives is worth recording, and it is one of the most distinctive answers in the Qurʾān.
| The claim | The reality |
|---|---|
| To press your weight into the ground | Lan takhriqa'l-arḍa — you cannot split the earth open |
| To rise up in height | Lan tablugha'l-jibāla ṭūlā — you cannot reach the mountains |
I record this as my own reading, and its support is that both sentences are physical: a proud walk is a claim in two directions at once — downward (the tread) and upward (the height). The verse meets both claims with a measure. And the measures chosen are not the man himself: the earth and the mountains.
The answer, then, is not moral but proportional. The human being is answered not by his own greatness but by being set beside the things next to him.
The lexicographers dwell on this expression, because the list does not consist of prohibitions only — there are commands in it too (kindness to parents, giving the kinsman his due, keeping full measure). And the qualification "the evil of it" leaves these outside.
I record this as an observation about the structure: rather than qualifying the list as a whole, the verse sorts within it. The text itself, that is, distinguishes among the items of its own list.
مَكْرُوهًا — root ك-ر-ه: to find distasteful. The root was treated at 46/15 in al-Aḥqāf and at 2/216 and 2/256 in al-Baqara.
A record required by the method: this word is also used in jurisprudence as a technical term (makrūh). The usage in the verse is the lexical one, and I draw no ruling about a juristic category from it.