Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 51 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:51

۞ وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَآ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ رُشْدَهُۥ مِن قَبْلُ وَكُنَّا بِهِۦ عَـٰلِمِينَ

“And We had certainly given Abraham his sound judgement before,[891] and We were of him well-Knowing”

Saheeh International

Essence

Long before Musa, young Ibrahim was given the sense to find the straight road, by the One who knew exactly whom He was giving it to.

A reflection

Rushd: the straight road between two

Rushdahu: his right guidance, his sound judgement. To the first hearers, the root drew a road. One lexicon gives it a single meaning: the straightness of a road. The marāshid were the points where roads head towards their goal. A synonym lexicon paints the scene. A man stands between two roads, not knowing which reaches his aim. Someone points him to the right one: that is irshād. If he takes it, he is rāshid. Its opposite is ghayy, straying off into the dark. Travellers were wished rashidta: may you keep the right road.

The Quran uses the same word for a very practical kind of maturity. Orphans are tested, and when rushd is seen in them, their wealth is handed over (4:6). One commentator cites exactly that ayah here. Rushd is not cleverness. It is the ability to find the course that leads somewhere good, in faith and in daily life.

Picture an uncle who is trustee of a small fund his late mother left for his niece. The will says it passes to her when the trustees see sound judgement. She is nineteen and brilliant: top marks, quick tongue, two languages. He watches her first year at university instead. He sees her keep a careful budget, turn down a scheme a friend pushed, and send money home when her mother was ill. In June he signs the papers.

Intelligence alone would not have persuaded him. Choosing the right road, again and again, did.

The ayah says Ibrahim was given his rushd, and one commentator reads the possessive as praise. It was a rushd fitting a man like him, of great standing. Every reader can ask for a share of the same gift. It is the gift most of us need more than raw brilliance: knowing which road to take at the fork.

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.