Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 23 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:23

وَقَدِمْنَآ إِلَىٰ مَا عَمِلُوا۟ مِنْ عَمَلٍ فَجَعَلْنَـٰهُ هَبَآءً مَّنثُورًا

“And We will approach [i.e., regard][1016] what they have done of deeds and make them as dust dispersed.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Deeds they trusted are met by Allah and turned into dust in a sunbeam: plain to see for a moment, impossible to hold.

A reflection

When the King turns to the work

The ayah begins with Allah speaking in the plural of majesty: wa-qadimnā, and We came forward. The verb is the one used for arriving from a journey, or advancing on a place. The early authorities gloss it simply. We turned to it; We set about it.

How such a verb should be understood was discussed. Some commentators explained it as His intent and judgement, or as the angels coming by His command. Others, following an early practice with such words, left it as it stands. All agree on what it plainly says. Allah turns to their deeds, and the deeds are undone.

One classical commentator offers a picture from the life of kings. The Quran quotes the Queen of Sheba: when kings enter a town, they ruin it (27:34). A sovereign's arrival changes whatever it meets. Another describes rebels whose ruler comes to their goods and tears them apart, leaving no trace and not even dust.

Now think of what we build to be remembered. The firm with a founder's name on the door. The thesis, the house, the following, the reputation for being kind. We assume our work will speak for itself.

This ayah moves the question somewhere else. The work does not speak. It is spoken about, by the One who turns to it. In His presence, the question is not how large it was. It is whom it was for.

That is humbling for the ego, which likes to be its own auditor. Nothing we have done is outside His look. Nothing of ours needs our applause to stand, or can stand on our applause alone.

Does Allah need our deeds to be offered to Him alone? Sahih Muslim records Him saying: I am the One most free of need of partners. Whoever does a deed in which he sets another beside Me, I leave him and his partner. He gains nothing from our sincerity. He simply does not share. A deed offered to two masters is handed to the other one.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.