Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 85 of 111

Al-Isra 17:85

وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلرُّوحِ ۖ قُلِ ٱلرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّى وَمَآ أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ ٱلْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا

“And they ask you, [O Muḥammad], about the soul. Say, "The soul is of the affair [i.e., concern] of my Lord. And you [i.e., mankind] have not been given of knowledge except a little."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Asked to name the soul, the Prophet ﷺ was told to say whose it is, and to tell every listener how little anyone knows.

A reflection

The nearest thing you cannot name

An interview panel opens with the easiest question in the world. Tell us about yourself. The candidate has rehearsed it. A degree, two jobs, a half-marathon, two languages. Ninety seconds, fluent, finished with a smile.

On the train home he replays it. Every sentence was about something he had done or something he had. Not one said what it is that does the having.

This ayah puts its finger on that gap. The question put to the Prophet ﷺ was about the rūḥ, the spirit by which a body lives. The answer he was told to give was short: it is of the affair of my Lord. One classical commentator draws the lesson out. Allah left it unexplained, he says, so that a person knows for certain he cannot grasp his own self, though he knows it exists. And whoever cannot grasp the creature closest to him is far less able to grasp his Creator.

That is a hard place for the ego to stand. Pride lives on the feeling of command: I know my mind, I know what I want, I know who I am. Yet the one thing you live inside every waking second is the one thing you cannot define. You say 'I' a thousand times a day, and could not say what the word points to.

Someone may object that this is belittling. Is a God who reminds people of their ignorance not being arrogant? But the ayah does not call human knowledge worthless. The commentators are careful here. Little and much are measured against something. The wisdom a servant is given is much in itself, and little when set beside the knowledge of Allah. Saying so adds nothing to Him. He is free of all need (35:15). The reminder is for us, so that we stop mistaking the edge of our knowledge for the edge of reality.

So the humility asked for here is not grovelling. It is accuracy. The ego shrinks to its true size, and its true size is a creature carrying something that came from its Lord's own command.

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.