Maryam · Makki · ayah 49 of 98

Maryam 19:49

فَلَمَّا ٱعْتَزَلَهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ وَهَبْنَا لَهُۥٓ إِسْحَـٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ ۖ وَكُلًّا جَعَلْنَا نَبِيًّا

“So when he had left them and those they worshipped other than Allāh, We gave him Isaac and Jacob, and each [of them] We made a prophet.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The man who walked out of his father's house alone is given a son and grandson, both prophets: no one ever lost by Allah.

A reflection

He lost a father's house and was given a household

Read the Ibrahim passage up to the last ayah and it ends in loss. A father who threatens stones. A home closed. A son walking away with nothing but a promise to pray. Many readers carry the scene as a tragedy with a pious ending.

This ayah changes the shape. Fa-lammā ʿtazalahum: so when he had withdrawn from them and what they worshipped besides Allah. We gave him Ishaq and Yaʿqub, and each We made a prophet. The story does not end at the door. It ends at a table.

One major commentator spells out what the gift meant. We comforted his loneliness at parting from them. We replaced them with those better than them and more honoured with Allah. One concise commentary says the same in a phrase: two sons, to keep him company.

Another commentary adds a tender detail. Yaʿqub, the grandson, is named because he became a prophet in Ibrahim's own lifetime. Allah cooled his eye with them while he lived. It is the same phrase used for Maryam earlier in this surah: let your eye be cooled (19:26). Two people driven out by their own, both given a child to rest their eyes on.

Two classical commentators sum it up in a sentence. No one ever lost by giving something up for Allah.

Picture a man disowned at twenty-two for his faith. At seventy, in a hospital bed, his bedside is crowded: children, grandchildren, a great-grandson reading to him from his phone. He tells the nurse he lost one family once. Allah gave him this one instead.

That is Ibrahim's ending. A father lost; a line of prophets gained.

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.