Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 23 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:23

لَا يُسْـَٔلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْـَٔلُونَ

“He is not questioned about what He does, but they will be questioned.”

Saheeh International

Essence

No one stands above Allah to call Him to account, while every creature, however exalted, will be asked about what it did.

A reflection

No one stands higher to ask

He is not asked about what He does, and they are asked. An early commentator explains the first half plainly. No questioner can ask the Lord of the Throne about what He does with His creation: life and death, honour and humiliation. There is nothing above Him to say: why did You do this, why did You not do that? They are His creation and His servants, all within His dominion.

The lexicons add something about the word itself. A request, masʾala, rises from the lower to the higher. Asking is always upwards. To be asked, in the sense of being called to account, someone must stand above you. The ayah simply observes that no one does.

Another commentator argues from human experience. Kings and tyrants are often not questioned by their subjects, out of awe, even though they make mistakes and do harm. How much more the King of kings, the Lord of lords, who created them and provides for them.

Picture an office where one man demands a written justification for every new policy. Why the new rota? Why the new software? He calls it accountability. Then finance queries three of his own expense claims, and he is outraged at being doubted. The demand to question flows easily upwards. Being questioned stings.

That is the ego in a mirror. We are quick to put Allah on trial and slow to stand trial ourselves. The ayah reverses it.

A sceptic may hear this as authoritarian: a God who forbids questions. A commentator answers that He is not asked because of His greatness and majesty, and also because of His wisdom, His justice and His gentleness. The Quran says He does not wrong anyone even an atom's weight (4:40). Not being answerable is not the same as being arbitrary. It means no one is in a position to judge Him, and He has no need to be judged.

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.