Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 51 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:51

وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَبَعَثْنَا فِى كُلِّ قَرْيَةٍ نَّذِيرًا

“And if We had willed, We could have sent into every city a warner.[1033]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah could have raised a warner in every town, yet He laid the whole weight on one man, honouring him without needing him.

A reflection

I could have done this without you

Read the ayah slowly and notice who is speaking. Wa law shiʾnā: and had We willed. The sentence opens with a will that nothing outside it can push.

Allah could have raised a warner in every town. Every valley, every market, every cluster of tents would have had its own prophet. He did not do it. Yet He wants His Messenger ﷺ to know that He could have.

One classical theologian draws out what this does. The ayah shows, he says, that the divine presence has no need of Muhammad at all. Then the little word law, 'had', shows that Allah chose not to do it. So one sentence disciplines and honours at once. He calls it gentleness mixed with firmness.

Sit with that. The greatest of creation, in the middle of his mission, hears his Lord say: I could have done this without you. And then, in the same breath: I chose you.

Picture a reciter who has led the Ramadan night prayers at a large mosque for twelve years. People drive across the city to hear him. Slowly, without noticing, he begins to believe the nights would collapse without his voice. One year the committee does not ring. A fifteen-year-old leads instead, and the hall is just as full. He sits in the back row and weeps, first from hurt, then from relief.

That is the medicine in law shiʾnā. The ego loves to feel indispensable. It turns every good thing we carry into proof that we are needed. This ayah deflates that pride gently. Allah's work does not depend on any of us. If He uses us, it is a gift, not a debt He owes.

And the release is real. You do not have to hold up the sky. You only have to carry, gratefully, the part He chose to put in your hands.

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.