An-Naml · Makki · ayah 3 of 93

An-Naml 27:3

ٱلَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَهُم بِٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ

“Who establish prayer and give zakāh, and of the Hereafter they are certain [in faith].”

Saheeh International

Essence

Luqman's portrait word for word: prayer kept standing, giving that flows and certainty of the Hereafter, now naming the believers of the last ayah.

A reflection

One portrait, three names

This exact line also stands at 31:4, and its fuller treatment lives there. What changes here is the name over the portrait.

Al-Baqarah opens with nearly the same description and calls such people the God-conscious (2:2-4). Luqman calls them those who do things beautifully (31:3). An-Naml calls them simply the believers (27:2). Three titles, one face: prayer, giving and certainty of what comes last.

One commentator sees a careful shape in it. Belief in the Origin stands at one end, in the word 'believers'. Certainty of the Return stands at the other end. Between them sit the two noblest kinds of obedience: the body's, in prayer, and wealth's, in giving.

So whichever name you meet first, the test is the same three things. A person may be called God-conscious, believer or doer of beauty. The portrait underneath does not change.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.