Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 148 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:148

وَلِكُلٍّ وِجْهَةٌ هُوَ مُوَلِّيهَا ۖ فَٱسْتَبِقُوا۟ ٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ ۚ أَيْنَ مَا تَكُونُوا۟ يَأْتِ بِكُمُ ٱللَّهُ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

“For each [religious following] is a [prayer] direction toward which it faces. So race to [all that is] good. Wherever you may be, Allāh will bring you forth [for judgement] all together. Indeed, Allāh is over all things competent.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Every community has a direction it turns to, so race one another to good; wherever you are, Allah will bring you all together, and He has power over everything.

A reflection

The gathering no family can arrange

A family whose children have settled on four continents has tried for eleven years to get everyone into one room for a photograph. A wedding clashes with exams. A visa is refused. A flight is cancelled. The photograph has still not been taken.

'Wherever you may be, Allah will bring you all together. Allah has power over all things.' The commentators say this is the gathering of the Day of Judgement, when each will be repaid for their deeds. A narration-based commentary adds a striking detail. He is able to gather you from the earth, even when your bodies have been scattered.

Think of what that means. Billions of people across every age, every land, every sea. Bodies that became dust long ago, carried by wind and water to places no one could trace. Not one is lost. Not one is late.

This is what shrinks the ego. We organise, plan and still fail to gather a single family. We imagine we can disappear into a crowd, a city, a private life where no one will find us. The ayah says: wherever you are. There is nowhere outside that 'wherever'.

Does the One with power over all things need us to be impressed by it? He is free of all need (35:15). The reminder is for us. It puts our quarrels about directions and labels into proportion. All of it will be settled on one Day, by One who brings everyone to the same place.

The family may never get their photograph. But every one of them will stand in the same assembly one day, gathered without a single missed flight.

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.