Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 268 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:268

ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ يَعِدُكُمُ ٱلْفَقْرَ وَيَأْمُرُكُم بِٱلْفَحْشَآءِ ۖ وَٱللَّهُ يَعِدُكُم مَّغْفِرَةً مِّنْهُ وَفَضْلًا ۗ وَٱللَّهُ وَٰسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ

“Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to immorality, while Allāh promises you forgiveness from Him and bounty. And Allāh is all-Encompassing and Knowing.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Two voices make promises when you reach for your wallet: Satan promises poverty and urges the clenched fist; Allah promises forgiveness and bounty.

A reflection

The voice that sounds like prudence

A mother scrolls past an appeal for a family whose house has burned down. She starts to type thirty pounds. Then a thought arrives, calm and sensible: the school trip deposit is due on Friday. She puts the phone face down.

A classical scholar describes that thought almost word for word. A person resolves to give, and finds a voice in his heart. 'Once this is gone, you will need it. Keeping it is better for you. Your wealth is better for you than his'. Once that picture is painted, the voice gives its command: hold back. 'Satan promises you poverty'.

The ego loves this voice, because it sounds like responsibility. It flatters us as careful, self-reliant, wise. But the ayah exposes its real source. The same scholar notes that this promise is not advice from a friend. Satan does not care whether you stay rich. He wants you to think badly of your Lord.

Then the second promise. 'Allah promises you forgiveness from Him, and bounty'. And the closing names: Wāsiʿ, Vast; ʿAlīm, Knowing. A concise commentary says His bounty is vast, and He knows who gives. The scarcity voice pictures a small, finite world, where every coin given is a coin lost. The ayah opens a wider one. You are drawing on a Treasury that does not shrink.

Someone may ask whether a God who announces His vastness is boasting. But the name is spoken against a lie. It is information the frightened heart needs. Allah gains nothing from our trust; He is free of all need (35:15).

The mother could still pick up the phone. The deposit will be due either way. The question is which promise she believes.

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.