Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 245 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:245

مَّن ذَا ٱلَّذِى يُقْرِضُ ٱللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضَـٰعِفَهُۥ لَهُۥٓ أَضْعَافًا كَثِيرَةً ۚ وَٱللَّهُ يَقْبِضُ وَيَبْصُۜطُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ

“Who is it that would loan Allāh a goodly loan so He may multiply it for him many times over? And it is Allāh who withholds and grants abundance, and to Him you will be returned.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The One who holds and spreads all provision asks, gently, who will lend Him a goodly loan, and promises to return it many times over.

A reflection

The Borrower who owns everything

A man has worked forty years and built a comfortable life. He calls it 'my money', and in a narrow sense it is. He earned it, saved it, invested it.

The ayah sets a startling question beside a stark statement. The question: who will lend Allah a goodly loan? The statement: 'Allah withholds and spreads, and to Him you will be returned'. The One asking for a loan is the One whose hand closes and opens on every provision in the world.

The two verbs have physical pictures. Qabḍ is a hand closing round something, as round the grip of a sword. Basṭ is spreading out, as a carpet is unrolled across a floor. Every salary, every harvest and every inheritance sits between that closing and that opening.

That is what makes the question so humbling. The ego says: this is mine, I may give some if I choose. The ayah says: it was spread for you by a Hand that can close. And then that same Owner asks, gently, whether you will lend some of it back to Him.

Does Allah need a loan? A classical commentator answers plainly: He calls it a loan not because He needs anything from His creation. Sahih Muslim records Him asking, in the last part of the night: who will lend to One who is neither destitute nor unjust? Not destitute: He needs nothing. Not unjust: He never fails to repay.

The man's money is safe in his account. It is safer still in the hands of the One who spread it.

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.