Yusuf · Makki · ayah 67 of 111

Yusuf 12:67

وَقَالَ يَـٰبَنِىَّ لَا تَدْخُلُوا۟ مِنۢ بَابٍ وَٰحِدٍ وَٱدْخُلُوا۟ مِنْ أَبْوَٰبٍ مُّتَفَرِّقَةٍ ۖ وَمَآ أُغْنِى عَنكُم مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ مِن شَىْءٍ ۖ إِنِ ٱلْحُكْمُ إِلَّا لِلَّهِ ۖ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ ۖ وَعَلَيْهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ ٱلْمُتَوَكِّلُونَ

“And he said, "O my sons, do not enter from one gate but enter from different gates; and I cannot avail you against [the decree of] Allāh at all. The decision is only for Allāh; upon Him I have relied, and upon Him let those who would rely [indeed] rely."”

Saheeh International

Essence

A father sends his sons through different gates, then says his precaution avails nothing against Allah, and places all his reliance on Him alone.

A reflection

The bridle is in one Hand

There is a particular pride that belongs to planners. If I think of everything, nothing can go wrong.

A father plans his daughter's wedding to the minute. The car, the hall, the order of speeches, the time the food comes out. On the day, a lorry overturns on the motorway and the groom arrives two hours late. The father, to his own surprise, finds himself laughing in the car park.

Something in him had finally been told the truth.

Yaqub is a prophet and a careful man. He gives his sons a sensible instruction: do not all enter by one gate. And then, in the same breath, he humbles his own plan. I cannot avail you anything against Allah. The judgement belongs to none but Allah.

The word for judgement has a vivid picture in the lexicons. It begins as the part of a horse's bridle that runs round the jaw. It is what stops the horse bolting and keeps it under the rider.

One classical commentary draws on exactly this. Judgement means settling one of two possible outcomes so firmly that the other cannot happen. And that, it says, belongs to Allah alone.

So every gate of the city is open. The sons may choose their roads. But the bridle that decides where the whole affair goes is in one Hand.

That is humbling for any ego that trusts its own arrangements. It is also a mercy. The planner is not, in the end, responsible for holding the reins of the world.

The arrogance we might fear in a Lord who decides everything is turned around here. It is our pride that imagines our plans decide. His judgement is what keeps the world from bolting.

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.