Al-Hajj · Madani · ayah 65 of 78

Al-Hajj 22:65

أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ سَخَّرَ لَكُم مَّا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱلْفُلْكَ تَجْرِى فِى ٱلْبَحْرِ بِأَمْرِهِۦ وَيُمْسِكُ ٱلسَّمَآءَ أَن تَقَعَ عَلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِۦٓ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِٱلنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ

“Do you not see that Allāh has subjected to you whatever is on the earth and the ships which run through the sea by His command? And He restrains the sky from falling upon the earth, unless by His permission. Indeed Allāh, to the people, is Kind and Merciful.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Land, animals and ships are put at your service, and the sky above you is held moment by moment: tenderness towards people, even ungrateful ones.

A reflection

Small hands on a heavy wardrobe

The verb yumsiku comes from a root of gripping. The lexicons give it as holding fast or holding back. A bangle of horn was called masak because it grips the wrist. A hide was called mask because it holds what is poured into it. That root image is established.

So the ayah pictures a closed hand. Above every head on earth there is a sky, and it does not fall, because it is held.

The tense matters too. Yumsiku is present and ongoing. One commentator explains it as holding it moment after moment. Another says His holding is the creating of stillness in it, state after state. The sky was not fixed in place once and then left. It is being held now, while you read this.

Picture a father carrying a heavy wardrobe down a narrow staircase. His three-year-old son has both small hands pressed against the side. The boy's face is red with effort. He is sure he is helping. At the bottom he announces, proudly, that they carried it together.

That is the ego's picture of its own life. I hold up my family. I hold up my career. I keep everything from falling. The ayah lets us keep our small hands on the wardrobe. It simply tells us who is bearing the weight.

This is not said to belittle us. A father does not mock his son's effort. But the son would be in real danger if he thought the weight was his. The humble person still pushes, and knows whose grip is holding the sky.

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.