Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 110 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:110

وَأَقِيمُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتُوا۟ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ ۚ وَمَا تُقَدِّمُوا۟ لِأَنفُسِكُم مِّنْ خَيْرٍ تَجِدُوهُ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ

“And establish prayer and give zakāh, and whatever good you put forward for yourselves - you will find it with Allāh. Indeed Allāh, of what you do, is Seeing.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Pray, give, and send good ahead of you: every deed is stored with Allah, who sees all that you do.

A reflection

The stagehand in black

Between the acts of a play, a stagehand dressed in black moves the scenery in near darkness. If he does it perfectly, no one in the audience notices him at all. At the curtain call the actors bow. He is already coiling cables backstage.

The ayah ends: 'Indeed, Allah is Seeing of what you do.' A later commentary notices something striking in the word. Much of what we do is not visible at all: intentions, patience, a kindness done in silence. Yet Allah describes His knowledge of all of it as sight. It is as if every deed, inner and outer, were in plain view before Him.

That is humbling for the ego in two directions. The part of us that performs for an audience is told its audience was never the point. The applause of people is a small, partial sight. And the part of us that feels invisible is told it never was. The stagehand's work is fully seen.

A major early commentator says this statement carries a promise and a warning together. Allah sees the good, so it is stored for its doer. He sees the wrong, so it is not hidden.

Someone may ask whether this is a God who watches in order to catch people out. The ayah's own order answers. It speaks first of good sent ahead and found again, and only then of being seen. The gaze is that of One who keeps your deeds safe, not One who is waiting for a slip. He is free of all need (35:15). The seeing is for the stagehand's sake.

Work as if the lights are on. They are.

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.