Taha · Makki · ayah 131 of 135

Taha 20:131

وَلَا تَمُدَّنَّ عَيْنَيْكَ إِلَىٰ مَا مَتَّعْنَا بِهِۦٓ أَزْوَٰجًا مِّنْهُمْ زَهْرَةَ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا لِنَفْتِنَهُمْ فِيهِ ۚ وَرِزْقُ رَبِّكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَىٰ

“And do not extend your eyes toward that by which We have given enjoyment to [some] categories of them, [its being but] the splendor of worldly life by which We test them. And the provision of your Lord is better and more enduring.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Do not stretch your eyes after the world's bloom in other hands; it tests them, and your Lord's provision is better and lasts.

A reflection

Not the glance, but the stretched gaze

The ayah does not say 'do not look'. It says lā tamuddanna ʿaynayka: do not stretch your eyes. The lexicons say madd is drawing a thing out lengthwise, like a rope pulled long, or adding to something so it reaches further.

One classical commentary explains the difference precisely. Stretching the gaze is lengthening it, hardly able to turn it away, out of admiration and the wish that the thing were yours. A glance that falls on something unbidden, and is then lowered, is forgiven. Another commentary says 'do not stretch' is stronger than 'do not look', because the one who stretches his gaze does so from greed.

So the ayah is not asking us to pretend that beautiful things are not beautiful. It is naming a particular movement of the eyes: the long, lingering look that turns into longing.

Picture a woman at her kitchen table at eleven at night. She meant to check one message. Forty minutes later she is still watching an old school friend's house renovation. The new kitchen island, the garden room, the walk-in wardrobe. When she finally puts the phone down, she looks around her own kitchen. Nothing has changed in it. But it looks smaller, older and somehow disappointing.

That is a stretched gaze, and its fruit. The first glance at the friend's post was harmless. The fortieth minute was rope being pulled long, and it pulled her contentment with it.

One commentary connects this to the people who watched Qarun parade his wealth and sighed: if only we had what he has (28:79). The eyes stretched first; the heart followed.

The practice the ayah asks for is small and concrete. Notice when a look starts to lengthen. Then lower it, and turn your eyes back to what is yours. It is the stretching, not the seeing, that does the damage.

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.