Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 108 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:108

قُلْ إِنَّمَا يُوحَىٰٓ إِلَىَّ أَنَّمَآ إِلَـٰهُكُمْ إِلَـٰهٌ وَٰحِدٌ ۖ فَهَلْ أَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ

“Say, "It is only revealed to me that your god is but one God; so will you be Muslims [in submission to Him]?"”

Saheeh International

Essence

Everything revealed comes down to one sentence, your God is One God, followed by a question left open for you: will you submit?

A reflection

One God, and no room for small ones

Annamā ilāhukum ilāhun wāḥid: your God is only One God. The sentence leaves no gap for a second. Not a chief god among others, not a God who shares the throne with lesser powers. One.

The early commentator who explained it says: no god may rightly be worshipped by you except One. Worship is fitting for none but Him, and it does not befit anyone else.

That is majesty in its purest form, and it has a direct effect on the ego. Because the human heart, when it does not worship the One, does not stop worshipping. It simply crowns smaller gods. Very often, the self is one of them.

Picture a father who insists that every family decision passes through him: holidays, schools, the colour of the kitchen. He sees himself as the one who holds everything together. Then he spends a month in hospital after a minor operation. He returns to find that the house has run calmly without him. The children have made their own small decisions, and most of them were good. He sits in the garden for a long time that evening, oddly lighter.

The ayah does not ask anyone to stop caring for their family or their work. It removes the burden of being anyone's god, including your own. There is One who holds everything, and it is not you.

Does Allah need us to acknowledge His oneness? No. 'Whoever disbelieves, Allah is free of need of the worlds' (3:97). The declaration is for us. A heart with one Master is quieter than a heart serving many.

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.