Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 18 of 111

Al-Isra 17:18

مَّن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ٱلْعَاجِلَةَ عَجَّلْنَا لَهُۥ فِيهَا مَا نَشَآءُ لِمَن نُّرِيدُ ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا لَهُۥ جَهَنَّمَ يَصْلَىٰهَا مَذْمُومًا مَّدْحُورًا

“Whoever should desire the immediate[734] - We hasten for him from it what We will to whom We intend. Then We have made for him Hell, which he will [enter to] burn, censured and banished.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Want only the hasty world and you may get some of it, as much as He wills, then meet the Fire, blamed and pushed away.

A reflection

The two fences around every wish

Two cafés stand side by side on a high street. Same coffee, same prices, same early opening. One afternoon a film crew needs a café for a scene and picks the left-hand door, almost at random. The film is a hit. For years, tourists queue outside that café. Next door, the owner wipes the same tables and wonders what she did wrong.

The owner on the left tells interviewers it was hard work and believing in herself. That is partly true. But if she is honest, she knows the camera could have turned right.

The ayah gives the seeker of the hasty world what he asks for, and then fences it twice. Mā nashāʾu: what We will, not what he wants. Li-man nurīd: for whom We will, not for everyone who wants. One classical commentator draws the lesson plainly. Many people wish and are given only part of their wish. Many wish for that part and are denied even that. They end up poor in this world and the next.

This is the ego's favourite story: I wanted it more, so I got it. The ayah leaves the wanting with the human and keeps the giving with Allah. Even the one who succeeds does so inside His will, at His measure and His time. Pride in a portion one did not set is borrowed pride.

Someone may object that this is God boasting of His control over everyone's share. But consider what the ayah does for its listener. It tells him the truth before he spends a life on a false bargain. The world was never a vending machine that pays out for enough wanting. The One who sets the portions needs nothing from anyone's portion (35:15). Telling us is a mercy, not a display.

The humble response is not to stop working. It is to stop believing the work is the giver. Work hard, then say: whatever comes is His, and it is enough.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.