Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 95 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:95

وَلَن يَتَمَنَّوْهُ أَبَدًۢا بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌۢ بِٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ

“But never will they wish for it, ever, because of what their hands have put forth. And Allāh is Knowing of the wrongdoers.”

Saheeh International

Essence

They will never wish for death, because of what their own hands have sent ahead, and Allah knows the wrongdoers.

A reflection

Who keeps the register of the Garden

In a café, a young man scrolling a debate thread announces which public figures are definitely going to Hell. His grandmother puts down her tea. 'And who showed you the register?' she asks.

The previous ayah answered a claim: that the home of the Hereafter belonged to one group alone, to the exclusion of all people. This ayah closes the matter with a short sentence. 'And Allah knows the wrongdoers.'

A later commentator names their wrongdoing. They claimed for themselves something that was not theirs, and denied it to everyone else. That fits the root image of ẓulm: a thing put where it does not belong. They had placed the keys of the Garden in their own hands.

A classical theologian notices the word chosen. It does not say 'Allah knows the disbelievers'. Every disbeliever is a wrongdoer, he says, but not every wrongdoer is a disbeliever. The wider word was the fitting one. So the sentence does not stop at them. It reaches anyone who wrongs, including us.

This is where pride has to bow. Deciding who is saved and who is lost is not a task Allah has handed to anyone. He alone knows what each heart holds, what each hand sent ahead, and how each life will end. When I hand out Paradise to my own side and Hell to others, I am claiming His knowledge.

Is it arrogant, then, for Allah to keep the final word? Only the One who knows everything can judge with full fairness. A verdict from us would be a verdict from ignorance. His keeping the judgement is not vanity, and He needs no one's agreement. It is the only protection any of us has from being judged by people who do not know.

So the grandmother's question is the right one. Leave the register with its Owner. Spend the energy on your own page.

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.