Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 126 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:126

وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمُ رَبِّ ٱجْعَلْ هَـٰذَا بَلَدًا ءَامِنًا وَٱرْزُقْ أَهْلَهُۥ مِنَ ٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ مَنْ ءَامَنَ مِنْهُم بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ ۖ قَالَ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَأُمَتِّعُهُۥ قَلِيلًا ثُمَّ أَضْطَرُّهُۥٓ إِلَىٰ عَذَابِ ٱلنَّارِ ۖ وَبِئْسَ ٱلْمَصِيرُ

“And [mention] when Abraham said, "My Lord, make this a secure city and provide its people with fruits - whoever of them believes in Allāh and the Last Day." [Allāh] said, "And whoever disbelieves - I will grant him enjoyment for a little; then I will force him to the punishment of the Fire, and wretched is the destination."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Ibrāhīm asked for a barren valley to become a safe, fed town for believers; Allah answered that His provision reaches even those who reject Him.

A reflection

A table set for those who deny the Host

A broadcaster has spent forty years mocking belief on air. On his eightieth birthday his family fill the garden. There is cake, there are grandchildren, and his heart is still beating steadily. He has denied the Giver all his life, and the gifts have not stopped.

Ibrāhīm had just been told, one ayah earlier, that Allah's covenant of leadership would not reach wrongdoers (2:124). So when he prayed for the valley's food, he narrowed it carefully. 'Provide its people with fruits,' he said, then added: 'whoever of them believes in Allah and the Last Day.' He was being courteous, measuring one request by the answer to the last.

Allah widened it. 'And whoever disbelieves, I will let him enjoy a little.' The commentators explain the difference. Leadership is a trust over others, and it is not given to one who will betray them. Provision is a mercy of this world, and it is not kept back from anyone. One later commentary draws a lesson from the correction: do not fence in your prayers for provision. Ask widely, as His generosity is wide.

Now hold that beside ourselves. We stop texting the friend who never replies. We are slower to help the colleague who did not thank us last time. Our kindness runs on being acknowledged. Allah's does not. He feeds the one who praises Him and the one who mocks Him from the same harvest.

That should shrink the ego, which keeps careful accounts of who deserves its favour. It also answers a question people ask. Does God need our praise? Plainly not: He is free of all need (35:15). If He needed it, He would ration the rain for those who give it. Instead the rain falls on every field, and the critic's roses bloom in their season.

The ayah does not say this lasts. The enjoyment is 'a little', and the sentence goes on. But the first thing it shows is a King whose table is set before anyone has said thank you.

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.