By Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

The Mirage Metaphor in Qur’an 24:39

“As for those who disbelieve, their deeds are like a mirage in a desert: the thirsty one thinks it to be water, until when he comes upon it, he finds it to be nothing; but he finds God there, Who pays him his full account; and God is swift in reckoning.” 9

This powerful verse paints a vivid picture of false hope and delusion. It compares the deeds of unbelievers (those who reject truth) to a mirage on an empty plain – an illusion of water that a desperately thirsty traveler mistakes for reality surahquran.com. In classical Islamic exegesis, scholars like Al-Tabari (d. 923) and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1209) emphasized that the “mirage” represents the apparent goodness or achievements which unbelievers may pride themselves on, only to find them worthless in the end. The unbeliever marches toward this illusory “water” with confidence, thinking their actions will nourish them, “but when he dies and comes before his Lord he will not find [any reward for] his deed… it will be of no benefit to him” surahquran.com.

Islamic tradition holds that good deeds require sincere faith (iman) to have lasting value. Imam Al-Tabari, compiling reports from the Prophet’s companions, explains that on the Day of Judgment the disbeliever will discover his works “to be nothing at all” – like reaching the mirage and finding “nothing but empty sand” surahquran.com. Al-Razi, known for his philosophical insight, likewise notes that the disbeliever’s efforts and moral actions, however impressive in life, carry no weight in the hereafter without genuine belief. They are invalidated by the lack of spiritual substance, just as a mirage has no water. Classic Qur’anic commentary often cites a related verse: “We will turn to whatever deeds they did and make them scattered dust” – highlighting that disbelievers’ works evaporate into nothingness, as insubstantial as dust or a heat mirage.

The imagery here is exquisitely chosen. In the scorching Arabian desert, travelers are familiar with mirages (sarāb) – optical illusions caused by refracted light that make the distant sand appear as shimmering water. The Qur’an leverages this natural phenomenon as an allegory for spiritual reality. Just before this verse, the Qur’an speaks of God’s light guiding believers (24:35) – by contrast, the unbelievers “see things contrary to their reality,” chasing reflections without substance theoceanofthequran.org. Classical commentators note the contrast: believers are given a light of guidance that shows truth clearly, whereas those who deny God “are stuck in darkness” or fooled by false appearances.

“Their works are like a mirage on a vast plain,” many scholars interpret, meaning the deeds of the faithless lack true foundation or rewardsurahquran.com. For example, a person who rejects God may still perform charitable or morally good acts and thus “supposes that his deeds…will benefit him”, like a thirsty man convinced the mirage is watersurahquran.com. But ultimately, because of disbelief, those deeds have no savior – when the person “comes upon” the outcome of his life, he finds no water to quench his deepest thirst. Instead, “he finds God there”, ready to settle the account swiftly and justlysurahquran.com. In the words of Tafsir al-Jalalayn, “when he dies and meets his Lord, he will not find (his deed); he finds God there [instead] Who pays him his account in full”surahquran.com – meaning God confronts him with truth and requital, shattering the comfortable illusions he lived in.

Notably, the verse says “he finds God with him” at the mirage’s site – a striking expression. Many commentators marvel at the “sublime beauty” of this phrasetheoceanofthequran.org. It implies that ultimate reality (Al-Haqq) was there all along. God – the True Reality – is what the person finally encounters when the false mirage disappearstheoceanofthequran.org. As one commentary explains, “Those who sought truth and meaning in other places will eventually realize the Truth, that God is the ultimate reality. This realization will come upon everyone, either through sincere faith in this life or when the veils are lifted in the hereafter”theoceanofthequran.org. In Islamic theology, one may evade or deny truth for a lifetime, but in the end every soul meets God – either joyfully, through faith, or shockingly, through the collapse of all self-deception. The verse thus serves as a sober reminder: to chase anything in place of the Truth is as futile as trying to drink from a miragetheoceanofthequran.org.

False Hopes, Illusions, and Self-Deception

The mirage metaphor brilliantly captures the psychology of self-deception and false hope. The thirsty traveler’s desperation is key – in his state of need, he wants to see water so badly that he tricks himself into seeing it. Psychologically, this parallels how human beings can “see the world the way we wish it to be rather than the way it is”researchgate.net. Self-deception is a well-studied phenomenon: people often use their hopes, desires, or fears to construct a false perception of realityresearchgate.net. In the verse, the “thirst” represents an inner longing – an existential drive for fulfillment or salvationtheoceanofthequran.org. Every soul experiences thirst: a craving for happiness, meaning, and purpose. Modern psychology agrees that if our fundamental needs and desires are misdirected, we become prone to illusions. We might pursue wealth, status, pleasure, or ideologies, convinced these will satisfy us, much like the parched man convinced any glimmer on the horizon is water.

The Qur’an’s imagery anticipates what contemporary thinkers note about the human condition: we are often driven by desires but susceptible to misguidance. In existential psychology, there is the concept of an “existential vacuum” – a condition of emptiness that people try to fill with substitute gratifications. This can lead to chasing mirages: fleeting pleasures or obsessions that promise happiness but leave one even more thirsty. The verse says “thirsty man supposes it to be water” – he projects his hope onto an illusiontheoceanofthequran.org. Likewise, a person may project their hopes for joy onto material success or indulgence, believing “this must be the answer to my longing.” But when they attain it, they often find the satisfaction was hollow or short-lived. It was “nothing” really – just as the mirage yields nothing drinkabletheoceanofthequran.org.

Islamic scholars have commented on this psychological dimension. They describe misguided individuals wandering from one mirage to another: “Such people ramble to and fro – one day in this direction, another day somewhere else – going after mirages that move further with every step, until finally they realize what they have been chasing was nothing at all.”theoceanofthequran.org. This is a profound observation about human behavior: without true guidance, a person might drift through various phases of life (pursuing wealth, then power, then sensual pleasures, etc.), never finding lasting fulfillment. There is a constant “short-sightedness and lack of awareness” in such a statetheoceanofthequran.org. The individual is like someone in a desert who sees a lake one moment, and when that illusion fades, sees another gleam elsewhere and trudges on, always thirsty.

Modern psychology of cognition also explains how we sustain these illusions. We tend to filter information in ways that confirm our assumptions. According to research, people “sample more heavily the positive… and the elements that are consistent with their ideology or expectations”researchgate.net. In other words, we often ignore warnings or inconvenient truths and focus on signs that reinforce what we want to believe. The *thirsty traveler ignores the signs that the oasis is unreal – the very shimmer that any calmer observer knows is a mirage – because his mind clings to the hope of water. In life, we too may ignore the emptiness of wealth or the warning signs of an immoral path, because we are fixated on our desires. This self-deceptive tendency is part of the human psyche and can lead to what the verse calls “being deceived by false hopes” (ghurur) – a theme echoed throughout the Qur’an.

The term used for unbelief, kufr, itself carries a connotation of covering up or willfully denying truth. The ultimate self-deception is to cover one’s innate thirst for the divine with layers of denial. Existential misguidance sets in when a person not only deceives themselves about worldly matters but about the very purpose of existence. They may adopt an entire worldview that numbs the conscience – effectively a spiritual mirage that life is just fine without honest self-reflection or God. This verse shatters that comfort: it says bluntly that all those elaborate justifications and comforting false beliefs will evaporate, just as a mirage dissolves into hot air once reached.

From a spiritual-psychological perspective, true contentment cannot be attained by feeding on illusions. Just as a dream about drinking leaves a person still parched upon waking, any illusion of fulfillment leaves the soul parched in the end. The Qur’an’s mirage is a caution that we must regularly question: Am I chasing something real, or am I fooling myself? It prompts a reflective reader to consider their own “mirages” – be it the illusion that immoral actions carry no consequences, or that material success alone will bring peace, or that one can live without a higher purpose and not feel empty. These are spiritual mirages of the modern age. Psychology today speaks of many people facing a crisis of meaning despite living in prosperity – a scenario quite comparable to finding an expected oasis to be dry.

Deeds, Accountability, and the Nature of Kufr

Within Islamic theology, Qur’an 24:39 also raises the issue of the value of deeds done without faith. The unanimous lesson of classical tafsir is that faith (iman) is the element that gives deeds weight and reality. Without it, even “good” deeds can become like weightless chaff. The Quran elsewhere describes unbelievers on Judgment Day carrying loads of deeds that dissipate like dustsurahquran.com or ashes blown by the wind (Qur’an 14:18). It is not that philanthropy, kindness, or charity are inherently worthless – but if they were done for ego, or without acknowledging the Source of morality, they lack the grounding that connects them to Ultimate Good (God). They become, in effect, misappropriated efforts – like pouring water into a leaking vessel. In the Islamic understanding, God is the foundation of all goodness; to do “good” while denying Him is to sever the act from its spiritual root, hence it bears no fruit in the afterlife.

The verse poignantly ends with “Allah is swift in account”. Classical commentators, such as Al-Tabari and later scholars, interpret this as a warning that God’s reckoning is both inevitable and comes sooner than one expects. Some (like the Mu’tazilite al-Jubbā’ī, as cited by al-Tūsī) even understood “swift in reckoning” to mean God can judge all souls simultaneously – there is no delay or difficulty for Him in exposing the truth of everyone’s deedstheoceanofthequran.orgtheoceanofthequran.org. In other words, no one will escape the moment of truth. The mirage chase will end abruptly at death, and reality will flood in at once.

When the verse says “He finds God there, Who pays him his full account”, it implies complete justice. Nothing the person did is unseen – both the apparent good and the evil are known to God and will be recompensed fairlytheoceanofthequran.orgtheoceanofthequran.org. The tragedy for the unbeliever is that none of his supposed good expectations are met as he imagined. Instead of a blissful reward, he faces the truth of his rejection of God. The “full account” might even include punishment for the arrogance or deliberate ignorance that fueled the self-deception. This is why some commentators say this scene is inherently tragic: the person is doubly disappointed – first by the non-existent water, second by the confrontation with the very God he spent life ignoring. The Qur’an elsewhere describes such people as “the greatest losers in respect of their deeds – those whose efforts in life were misguided while they thought they were doing good”theoceanofthequran.org. There is a tone of pity in that description: what could be more pitiful than striving one’s whole life for an outcome, only to face utter loss?

It’s worth noting that in Islamic discourse, kufr (denial of truth) is often linked with ingratitude and arrogance. The hardening of one’s heart to guidance or refusing to acknowledge one’s Creator is seen as the root of spiritual ruin. Thus the mirage metaphor also speaks to the moral state of the soul: Only a person deeply insistent on their own illusion would continue chasing a mirage in broad daylight, despite hints that it’s unreal. Likewise, the unbeliever often receives many hints in life – moments of doubt in their disbelief, or signs of God – but a hardened heart will brush those aside, persisting in the comfortable delusion. The Quran in another passage says, “When they forgot God, He caused them to forget their own souls” – a striking diagnosis of self-inflicted blindness. In a sense, denying God is denying one’s own inner truth, and thus all deeds done in that state suffer from a lack of sincerity and direction.

Parallels in Biblical Tradition: Spiritual Blindness and False Foundations

The themes in Qur’an 24:39 resonate strongly with metaphors and teachings in the broader Abrahamic traditions (Judaism and Christianity). The idea that a life of ungodliness leads to false hopes and ultimate disappointment is echoed in the Bible. For instance, the Book of Job teaches that those who forget God have their hopes collapse: “Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. What they trust in is fragile – a spider’s web. They lean on the web, but it gives way; they cling to it, but it does not hold.”theoceanofthequran.org. This vivid image of leaning on a spider’s web parallels the fragility of the mirage: the godless person’s confidence is built on something that cannot support their weight – it’s gossamer thin and breaks when relied upontheoceanofthequran.org. Another verse from the Hebrew prophets uses the dream analogy much like the Qur’an’s mirage: “A hungry man dreams – and behold, he eats; but he wakes up and his stomach is empty. Or a thirsty man dreams – and behold, he drinks; but he wakes and is faint, with his thirst unquenched”theoceanofthequran.org. This is found in Isaiah 29:8, comparing the illusions of Israel’s enemies to a starving man’s dream feast that turns out unreal. The common lesson: to chase fantasies or fight God’s truth is to feed on dreams and shadows, which vanish and leave one starved.

The Bible frequently describes spiritual error as blindness or darkness, much like the Qur’an contrasts the “light” of faith with the darkness of disbelief. Jesus warned of “blind guides” and said “If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14) – a metaphor close to someone pursuing a mirage and stumbling into peril. The New Testament explicitly links this blindness to a hardened heart: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts” (John 12:40)biblehub.com. In Christian understanding, persistently rejecting God’s message causes one’s heart to become calloused and one’s spiritual eyes to shut. This is essentially the same condition of the soul Qur’an 24:39 depicts – a person so bereft of true sight that he literally walks toward empty sand thinking it’s water. In both traditions, the result of such blindness is catastrophic. The Bible says, “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools… their thinking became futile and their hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21–22)biblehub.com. We hear an echo of “they suppose they are doing good, but they are the greatest losers” – a mirror to the Qur’anic wordingtheoceanofthequran.org.

Another parallel is the concept of “hardening of the heart,” exemplified by Pharaoh in Exodus who, despite witnessing signs and wonders, obstinately clung to his delusions of power. His end was destruction. Likewise, Qur’an 24:39 alludes that stubbornly clinging to one’s false beliefs (like insisting the mirage is water) leads straight to ruin when reality finally hits. Both Bible and Qur’an stress that God does not leave people without warning or guidance – the mirage exists in the open plain for all to recognize if they choose, but the willfully deluded “resist the truth” due to pride or sin.

Interestingly, water is a potent symbol in all these scriptures. In the Bible, God and His wisdom are often compared to life-giving water, while false gods or pursuits are compared to dried wells or broken cisterns. The Prophet Jeremiah delivered God’s rebuke: “My people have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that hold no water.” This is essentially the mirage problem: people abandon the true “spring of living water” (a relationship with God, truth) and instead toil digging their own wells – but those turn out to be broken containers that cannot retain any water. In other words, they invest in empty enterprises that cannot satisfy their thirst. Jesus builds on this imagery when he offers “living water” to the Samaritan woman: “Whoever drinks of the water I give him will never thirst again. Indeed, the water I give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”biblehub.com. The implication is profound: true faith and communion with God is the only thing that quenches the soul’s thirst permanently. Everything else – no matter how convincing or satisfying it seems for a time – will ultimately leave one thirsty againbiblehub.com.

From an interfaith philosophical perspective, we see a shared message: God is the ultimate reality and source of fulfillment, whereas turning away from God leads to a life of illusion and unfulfilled longing. The “mirage in the desert” in Islam carries the same caution as building one’s house on sand in Jesus’ parable – when the storms come, a sandy foundation provides no support and the house collapses (Matthew 7:26–27). Likewise, the Qur’an’s disbeliever built his hopes on shimmering sand, and when the moment of truth arrives, his life’s work collapses into emptiness. In both Bible and Qur’an, there is also an element of surprise and regret at the end: the person only realizes at the very last moment the depth of their error. The Qur’an says “he finds it to be nothing, and finds God there” – imagine the shock. The Bible often portrays the unrepentant on Judgment Day with shock, saying “Lord, Lord…” only to be turned away because they failed to truly know God (Matthew 7:21-23). Spiritual blindness and hard-heartedness had prevented them from seeing what was necessary until it was too late.

Reflection: The Soul’s Journey from Delusion to Truth

Qur’an 24:39 is not merely a theological warning for disbelievers; it holds up a mirror for all readers to reflect on the quality of their own faith and pursuits. It prompts questions like: What “water” am I seeking in life? Could some of my pursuits be mirages? The verse invites a deeply personal reflection on our motivations and our openness to truth. In Islamic spirituality, the journey of the soul (often described in Sufi literature) involves traversing a world full of deceptive mirages (the dunya, or worldly life, is called mata’ al-ghurur – “an enjoyment of delusion”) and aiming for the true oasis of divine presence. The thirst of the soul is a recurring metaphor: if we misunderstand what our soul thirsts for, we may poison ourselves with saltwater or chase mirages. If we recognize that our soul thirsts for the Divine (for meaning, for the Eternal), we can seek the true Water of life.

From a psychological angle, this verse encourages honest self-examination. We all have the capacity to rationalize and deceive ourselves to avoid uncomfortable truths. The disbeliever in the verse symbolizes anyone who, out of pride or fear, refuses to question their assumptions. The remedy is to cultivate humility and insight – to realize, as the Qur’an says, “Allah is the Manifest Reality” (Q. 24:25)theoceanofthequran.org. In practical terms, this means acknowledging that truth is not something we can bend to our desires; rather, we must align ourselves to the truth, even if that means letting go of cherished illusions. For a person of faith, it means ensuring that our good deeds are done with sincerity and for God’s sake, not for ego or mere tradition, lest they become empty rituals. For a seeker or someone struggling with belief, it means daring to ask the big questions: What am I living for? Will the things I strive for truly satisfy me, or am I tricking myself?

The verse ultimately carries a hopeful undertone amid its warning. By exposing the mirage as mirage, it indirectly guides us toward the real oasis. The shock image of “finding God [there]” at the end implies that God was the water we were really looking for all along. As one commentary beautifully put it, “to seek truth elsewhere is to try and drink from a mirage and results only in bitter disappointment” theoceanofthequran.org. The inference is that seeking truth in God leads to genuine fulfillment, like finding a clear spring in the desert. The broader Qur’anic moral message here is to orient our lives toward what is real and lasting – faith, truth, righteousness – and not be duped by the glitter of the ephemeral.

In summary, Qur’an 24:39 masterfully weaves together moral, spiritual, and psychological wisdom using the metaphor of a desert mirage. It cautions that a life devoid of spiritual truth, no matter how busy or virtuous it may seem, is headed for heartbreak – akin to dying of thirst on an illusion of water. Both Islamic tradition and the broader Abrahamic heritage urge us to wake up from such illusions. Where the unbeliever sees a mirage, the believer prays to see with clarity. Where one hardens their heart, the other asks God to “open the eyes of the heart.” Ultimately, the verse invites every thoughtful reader to consider the state of their soul’s thirst: Are we quenching it with the living water of truth, or numbing it with delusive mirages? In this reflective way, the Qur’an speaks across centuries, delivering a timeless message about false hope versus true fulfillment – warning us of the mirages we chase, and pointing us toward the eternal water of divine reality.

Sources:

• The Holy Qur’an, 24:39 – with classical commentary by al-Jalalayn surahquran.com and Ibn Kathir.
• Al-Tabari, Jami’ al-Bayan, and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Mafatih al-Ghayb (al-Tafsir al-Kabir) – classical exegeses explaining the mirage parable (as summarized in surahquran.com).
• Asrar and Kashf al-Asrar tafsirs (cited in Quranic studies) – noting the contrast of believers’ light vs. disbelievers’ mirages theoceanofthequran.org.
• Oxford Bibliographies (Psychology) – definition of self-deception as seeing things as we wish, not as they are researchgate.net.
• The Ocean of the Quran (24:39 commentary) – insights on the symbolism of thirst, happiness, and chasing mirages theoceanofthequran.org.
• The Bible – Job 8:13-15 and Isaiah 29:8 (illusions of the godless) theoceanofthequran.org; John 12:40 (spiritual blindness and hardened hearts) biblehub.com; Romans 1:21-22 (futile thinking without God) biblehub.com; John 4:14 (the “living water” of true salvation) biblehub.com.