Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 2 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:2

ٱلَّذِى لَهُۥ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَدًا وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ شَرِيكٌ فِى ٱلْمُلْكِ وَخَلَقَ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ فَقَدَّرَهُۥ تَقْدِيرًا

“He to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and who has not taken a son and has not had a partner in dominion and has created each thing and determined it with [precise] determination.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Everything in the heavens and earth is His alone, with no heir and no partner, and every created thing was made to its exact measure.

A reflection

The nursery's red spade

Lahu mulku al-samāwāti wa-l-arḍ: His is the dominion of the heavens and the earth. The order is pointed. "His" comes first. One commentator explains that it means His alone, neither held by anyone independently nor shared with anyone.

Another describes what that dominion looks like. His command runs through every part of it. His decree is carried out in all of it. Bringing into being and ending, giving life and taking it, commanding and forbidding: all of it is in His hands.

Now watch a nursery at playtime. A three-year-old clutches a red plastic spade and shouts "Mine". He will fight for it. On the handle, in black marker, is the nursery's name. He did not buy it, cannot keep it, and will leave it behind at half past three. The adults smile, because they can read the handle.

We are not so different, only larger. My house, my career, my body, my children. The word "my" is not false. Allah Himself speaks of what our right hands possess. But it is a borrowed "my", written over a name we have not read.

That is the ego's quietest illusion. It does not boast loudly. It simply assumes. It assumes the morning, the health, the salary and the people it loves will stay where it put them.

The ayah reads the name on the handle aloud. What you hold, you hold on loan, from the One whose name is written on all of it. That is not a threat. It is relief. You were never strong enough to own the world, so you are not required to keep it.

And here is the honest answer to a natural objection. Does a God who declares His ownership need us to acknowledge it? No. The spade belongs to the nursery whether the child agrees or not. The declaration is for the child, so he can stop fighting.

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.