Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 286 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:286

لَا يُكَلِّفُ ٱللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا ۚ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا ٱكْتَسَبَتْ ۗ رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذْنَآ إِن نَّسِينَآ أَوْ أَخْطَأْنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنَآ إِصْرًا كَمَا حَمَلْتَهُۥ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا بِهِۦ ۖ وَٱعْفُ عَنَّا وَٱغْفِرْ لَنَا وَٱرْحَمْنَآ ۚ أَنتَ مَوْلَىٰنَا فَٱنصُرْنَا عَلَى ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ

“Allāh does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity. It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has gained, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has earned. "Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people."[111]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah measures what He asks of you with room to spare, teaches you to ask for the rest, and answers each request.

A reflection

Not 'more than you can handle'

In the relatives' room of an intensive care unit there is a cushion. Someone has embroidered on it: God never gives us more than we can handle. Families sit on it for days. Few could say where the line comes from. Most would guess this ayah.

That reading is everywhere: on cards, in corridors, typed under bad news. And it quietly turns the ayah into a verdict on you. Whatever has happened, you must be able to cope, because it was given to you.

Look at the words. Lā yukallifu Allāhu nafsan illā wusʿahā. The verb is kallafa: to set a task, to lay an obligation. The ayah is about what Allah asks of you. And wusʿ is from the root of width and room. The first hearers knew it as a vessel large enough for what is poured in, with space left over.

Two commentaries make the point concrete. You could pray more than five times a day; you are asked for five. You could fast longer than Ramadan; you are asked for one month. Wusʿ, they say, sits below the full stretch of your strength. The obligation is cut with a margin.

Now hear it as its first listeners did. They had just knelt before the Prophet ﷺ, afraid that every passing thought would be held against them (2:284). This answered them. Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim record the same mercy in the Prophet's ﷺ words. Allah has overlooked for my community what their souls whisper, so long as they do not act on it or speak it.

So the ayah is not a claim about how much pain you can survive. It is a promise about His demands: never beyond you, and measured with room. The weight that is not a command, the ayah takes up next, in the voice of prayer.

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.