At-Takathur · Makki · ayah 1 of 8

At-Takathur 102:1

أَلْهَىٰكُمُ ٱلتَّكَاثُرُ

“Competition in [worldly] increase diverts you”

Saheeh International

Essence

Something has kept you busy your whole life, and the ayah does not even name it: the race to have more than others.

A reflection

Distracted while you thought you were choosing

The first word is a verb with a hidden subject pulling the strings. Alhākum: it has distracted you. The form makes something else the cause. The distraction was done to you while you thought you were choosing.

A classical commentary unpacks the word. To be distracted is to turn towards whatever desire calls you to, and every turning towards is also a turning away. It records a report that al-Zubayr, the Companion, would break off his conversation whenever he heard thunder. The same verb describes that: he left his talk for something greater. The question this ayah asks is what we have left, and for what.

The first hearers knew how strong this verb could be. One of the celebrated odes of pre-Islamic Arabia uses it for a mother drawn away from her own nursing infant. Picture that: a pull strong enough to turn a mother's eyes from her baby.

Now picture a father at the corner-shop counter, scratching lottery cards one by one. His small son tugs his sleeve to show him a rainbow. The child notices which one has his attention.

Then notice what is missing. Distracted you from what? The ayah does not say. Commentators explain that the object is left out so that the mind runs everywhere. From Allah, from duties, from reflection, from preparing for the grave itself. Each reader fills in the blank with whatever he has been neglecting.

Some early readers even recited it as a question: has it distracted you? Either way, the finger is pointed gently at you, and it waits for an honest answer.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.