An-Naml · Makki · ayah 12 of 93

An-Naml 27:12

وَأَدْخِلْ يَدَكَ فِى جَيْبِكَ تَخْرُجْ بَيْضَآءَ مِنْ غَيْرِ سُوٓءٍ ۖ فِى تِسْعِ ءَايَـٰتٍ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ وَقَوْمِهِۦٓ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ قَوْمًا فَـٰسِقِينَ

“And put your hand into the opening of your garment [at the breast]; it will come out white without disease. [These are] among the nine signs [you will take] to Pharaoh and his people. Indeed, they have been a people defiantly disobedient."”

Saheeh International

Essence

His hand, placed at his breast, comes out shining without harm, one of nine signs for Pharaoh and his defiant people.

A reflection

Into the opening over the heart

An old calligraphy master watches a student's letters wobble across the page. He takes the reed pen from her and says: the stroke does not begin in your wrist. It begins here. He taps his own chest. Breathe from here, and let the hand follow.

The word in this ayah is jayb. In Arabic today it usually means a pocket. One commentator warns against reading that back into the Quran, noting that the pocket sense came later. The jayb was the opening cut at the neck of a garment, where the head goes through and the breast shows. An early report says Musa wore a woollen garment without proper sleeves. So he was told to put his hand in at the chest.

This is the established sense, and it changes the picture. Musa does not reach into a pocket like someone feeling for keys. He places his hand at his breast, over his heart, and it comes out shining.

The Arabs made the same connection. Because the jayb lies over the heart, a trustworthy man was called nāṣiḥ al-jayb, sincere of the opening. What lay behind his chest was clean.

There is a reflection here for anyone who wants their work to carry light. The shining hand came from the place over the heart. The hand that would show Pharaoh the sign was first pressed against the source.

What you bring out to people, in words, in work, in kindness, carries something of what lies behind it. A hand that has never touched the heart rarely shines for long. Polished speech without sincerity behind it tends to dull with time.

Before you begin something important today, pause with your hand at your chest. Ask Allah to make what lies behind it worth bringing out.

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.