Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 21 of 111

Al-Isra 17:21

ٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ ۚ وَلَلْـَٔاخِرَةُ أَكْبَرُ دَرَجَـٰتٍ وَأَكْبَرُ تَفْضِيلًا

“Look how We have favored [in provision] some of them over others. But the Hereafter is greater in degrees [of difference] and greater in distinction.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Look how unequally this world's gifts are shared, then know that the Hereafter's ranks lie further apart, and its favours run greater still.

A reflection

Ranks you did not hand yourself

A hairdresser in a busy salon sees the whole of this ayah in one afternoon. At two, a bride-to-be with thick, glossy hair that does whatever it is asked. At three, a woman of thirty-four after chemotherapy, choosing a wig. At four, a woman turning ninety who wants a set for her party. At five, a teenager whose father pays without glancing at the price.

Unẓur kayfa faḍḍalnā baʿḍahum ʿalā baʿḍ: look how We have favoured some of them over others. One commentary lists what that covers in this world. Rich and poor, and those in between. Beautiful and plain, and those in between. Some die young, and some live on until they are very old.

Read the verb again. We have favoured. None of the four women chose her hair, her cells, her years or her father. Most of what we rank each other by was handed out. That is the majesty here. The distribution is His in every detail, and He opens it for inspection. Look, He says, as if inviting an audit.

The ego does not like this. It wants its advantages to count as achievements and its disadvantages as bad luck. The ayah quietly hands both back. Your height, your face, your mother tongue, your lifespan: favours, or their absence, from the One who distributes.

Is there vanity in a God who ranks His creatures and tells them to watch? The objection assumes the ranking flatters Him. It humbles us instead, and asks nothing for Him. The root of faḍl is surplus: whatever goes beyond the measure owed. Every gift the giver was not bound to give is called by it. Seen that way, everything above nothing is surplus, and no one has grounds for pride.

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.