Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 255 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:255

ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلْحَىُّ ٱلْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُۥ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ ۚ لَّهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا ٱلَّذِى يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُۥٓ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِۦ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَىْءٍ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِۦٓ إِلَّا بِمَا شَآءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا يَـُٔودُهُۥ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَلِىُّ ٱلْعَظِيمُ

“Allāh - there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living,[98] the Self-Sustaining.[99] Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them,[100] and they encompass not a thing of His knowledge except for what He wills. His Kursī[101] extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation tires Him not. And He is the Most High,[102] the Most Great.[103]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Every night sleep takes the watch from your hands; this ayah describes the One who was holding it all along, and who never once dozes.

A reflection

Taken every night

Lā taʾkhudhuhu sinatun wa lā nawm: drowsiness does not take Him, nor sleep. The verb is akhadha, to seize. We do not decide to sleep. Sleep takes us.

Think of the most self-important person you know. Perhaps a regional director who tells every new starter that he 'runs on four hours'. At 11.40 on a Tuesday he is on the sofa, mouth open, shoes still on. The television has paused the episode to ask: 'Are you still watching?' He is not. The machine noticed before he did.

Every human being is switched off once a day. The surgeon, the head of state, the champion and the influencer with ten million followers. Each lies down and loses the whole world for hours. Allah takes the souls in their sleep, says 39:42, and sends the others back until an appointed term. One classical reading puts it bluntly: if He slept, He would be overpowered, because sleep overpowers the sleeper.

Here is the cure for the ego hidden in this line. Whatever we take pride in, we put it down every night, unconscious, and the world turns without us. The office opens. The tides keep their hours. 'The deeds of the night are raised to Him before the day' (Sahih Muslim). Our self-importance has a bedtime.

Some find it strange that God describes His own greatness at such length. Does He need us to hear it? The Quran answers plainly: you are the ones in need of Allah, and Allah is free of need (35:15). In a hadith qudsi He says this. If every person who ever lived had the most pious heart among them, it would add nothing to His dominion (Sahih Muslim). Pride is a lie when a creature claims what it lacks. In Him greatness is simply the truth: 'Might is His lower garment and grandeur His cloak' (Sahih Muslim).

So the ayah is not boasting. It is telling you, before you lie down, who is awake. The person who knows they are taken every night can stop pretending to hold the watch. That is not a humiliation. It is the first permission to rest.

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.