Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 26 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:26

۞ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَسْتَحْىِۦٓ أَن يَضْرِبَ مَثَلًا مَّا بَعُوضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَا ۚ فَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ فَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ ٱلْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ ۖ وَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فَيَقُولُونَ مَاذَآ أَرَادَ ٱللَّهُ بِهَـٰذَا مَثَلًا ۘ يُضِلُّ بِهِۦ كَثِيرًا وَيَهْدِى بِهِۦ كَثِيرًا ۚ وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِۦٓ إِلَّا ٱلْفَـٰسِقِينَ

“Indeed, Allāh is not timid to present an example - that of a mosquito or what is smaller[15] than it. And those who have believed know that it is the truth from their Lord. But as for those who disbelieve, they say, "What did Allāh intend by this as an example?" He misleads many thereby and guides many thereby. And He misleads not except the defiantly disobedient,”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah is not too grand to speak of a mosquito; how a person reacts to a small example shows where their heart already stands.

A reflection

Too great to be embarrassed

A professor of mathematics is sitting at the kitchen table with his daughter's times-tables flashcards. His phone rings: a video call from a colleague abroad. He answers, sees the cards in the corner of the frame, and slides them out of view. It is a tiny reflex, and most of us would do the same. We guard our standing. We do not like to be seen with small things.

The ayah says Allah is not yastaḥyī, not held back by shyness, from striking a parable with a mosquito, or with what is above it. The classical linguists trace ḥayāʾ, shyness, to ḥayāt, life. A shy person shrinks as if some life has drained out of them. People said someone 'died of shame' or 'melted' with it. It is the flinch of a creature worried about how it will look.

He has no such worry. He created the mosquito without disdain, one classical commentator notes, so He does not disdain to name it. Size does not threaten Him, because nothing threatens Him.

That should shrink our pride a little. Much of our ego is spent on managing how we look: which jobs we will be seen doing, which people we will be seen with. The One who needs no image speaks freely of the smallest things He made.

And He can measure us by the same small scale. The Prophet ﷺ said a huge, well-fed man will come on the Day of Resurrection and not weigh the wing of a mosquito with Allah. Then he recited: 'We will not assign them any weight on the Day of Resurrection' (18:105). This is in both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. The mosquito is not beneath Him. Our self-importance may be.

Does He then speak of His power over guidance to be praised? He is free of all need. A hadith shows the direction of His ḥayāʾ. 'Your Lord is shy and generous,' the Prophet ﷺ said. 'He is too shy to turn back empty the hands a servant raises to Him' (al-Tirmidhi, who graded it ḥasan gharīb). Scholars differ over how to speak of this attribute. All agree it is nothing like our flush and stammer. What He will not hold back from is truth. What He will not do is send you away empty.

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.