Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 10 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:10

تَبَارَكَ ٱلَّذِىٓ إِن شَآءَ جَعَلَ لَكَ خَيْرًا مِّن ذَٰلِكَ جَنَّـٰتٍ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ وَيَجْعَل لَّكَ قُصُورًۢا

“Blessed is He who, if He willed, could have made for you [something] better than that - gardens beneath which rivers flow - and could make for you palaces.”

Saheeh International

Essence

They asked for one orchard; Allah says He could give gardens with rivers and palaces if He willed, so their proof is small to Him.

A reflection

One garden asked for, gardens offered

At the bottom of their ladder, they asked for one orchard. The reply opens with tabāraka and answers in the plural: gardens, with rivers running beneath them, and palaces too. An early report puts it plainly. They reproached him for lacking a single garden, and Allah is able to give him many.

That is the majesty in the ayah. What they held up as the test of a messenger, He treats as small. A treasure and an orchard were the summit of their imagination. To Him they sit inside a passing 'if He willed'.

The ego is meant to shrink here. We also measure worth by what a person has. A boy at the school gate sizes up his classmates by the cars that drop them off. Adults do the same with postcodes, job titles and kitchens. The ayah takes the whole scale and shows how small it is beside its Owner.

Tabāraka carries its own picture. The lexicons trace the root to a camel folding down at the water and staying there. Baraka is good that settles into a thing and holds, as water stays in a tank. Tabāraka says this abundance belongs to Him in the highest degree.

So baraka is not luck, and it is not simply more. It is good that stays. A small home with baraka holds peace; a large one without it leaks.

Does Allah need us to admire His wealth? He needs nothing at all. He names His abundance so that a mocked Prophet ﷺ can stop accepting their measure. So can every reader measured by what they lack.

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.