Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 58 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:58

وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱلْحَىِّ ٱلَّذِى لَا يَمُوتُ وَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِهِۦ ۚ وَكَفَىٰ بِهِۦ بِذُنُوبِ عِبَادِهِۦ خَبِيرًا

“And rely upon the Ever-Living who does not die, and exalt [Allāh] with His praise. And sufficient is He to be, with the sins of His servants, [fully] Aware -”

Saheeh International

Essence

Everyone you lean on will one day die; lean on the Living who does not, praise Him, and leave the sins of others with Him.

A reflection

Every name in the address book

Open the address book of a woman in her eighties. Forty years of names in her own hand: her parents, her sisters, the doctor who delivered her children, the neighbour who held her spare key. Most are crossed out now in blue biro. Each line was once someone she leaned on.

This ayah begins where that book ends. Wa tawakkal ʿalā al-ḥayyi alladhī lā yamūt: and rely on the Living who does not die. Notice what is missing. The ayah does not say 'rely on Allah', though it could have. It names Him by the one quality every other support lacks.

One commentary explains the choice. 'Living' rules out the idols, which never lived. 'Who does not die' rules out everyone else. A support that will die is weak already, it says. Whoever leans on it is like a weak man who takes refuge in a qarmala. That is an old Arab saying. The qarmala is a small desert plant, and a man clutching it for shelter has found nothing that can hold him.

Here the ego shrinks. Pride tells us we are the ones who hold things up: the provider, the strong one, the person others lean on. The ayah quietly adds our names to the address book. We are somebody's qarmala too. The parent a child depends on will die. The founder a company depends on will die. So will the self that thinks it is self-made.

Only one name is never crossed out. Another commentary puts it plainly. Whoever relies on a living being who dies is left lost when that being dies. Whoever relies on Him is never lost.

The ayah does not insult our love for people. It moves our weight. Love your parents, trust your friends, but do not rest your whole self on a shrub. There is a Living One who does not die, and He has invited you to lean.

The full entry has 7 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.