Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 72 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:72

وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُۥٓ إِسْحَـٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ نَافِلَةً ۖ وَكُلًّا جَعَلْنَا صَـٰلِحِينَ

“And We gave him Isaac and Jacob in addition, and all [of them] We made righteous.”

Saheeh International

Essence

He asked for one righteous child; he was given a son, a grandson besides, and righteousness in all of them: gift upon gift.

A reflection

Children are given, not made

Wa wahabnā lahu: and We gave him. The word for "give" here is not the word for paying, lending or rewarding. The lexicons define hiba as making what you own another's with nothing in return. A true gift, one adds, is free of any exchange and any hidden aim. One commentator says Ishaq and Yaʿqub were given as a gift and a favour, not as a wage Ibrahim had earned.

That is a humbling word for parents. We tend to speak of children as projects. We plan them, schedule them, invest in them, and when they do well we feel, quietly, that we did it.

Picture a graduation ceremony. A young woman crosses the stage for her degree. In the audience her father turns to the stranger beside him. "Twenty-two years of investment," he says, smiling. "School fees, tutors, the lot. That's our product up there." He means it as a joke, mostly. But some part of him believes she is his achievement.

The ayah gently takes that pride apart. The child was a gift. The grandson was a gift on top of the gift. And then: wa kullan jaʿalnā ṣāliḥīn, and each of them We made righteous. Even the goodness in them is attributed to Allah. The parent's ego has nowhere to stand. What you raised well, you were given to raise. What turned out good in them was placed there.

Does Allah need the thanks this invites? No. A gift with nothing expected back is exactly what hiba means. Saying "He gave" costs Him nothing to hear and gives Him nothing He lacked. It is the parent who gains: freedom from the crushing idea that everything about a child's life was in their hands. And the humility that makes them better parents.

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.