An-Naml · Makki · ayah 7 of 93

An-Naml 27:7

إِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِأَهْلِهِۦٓ إِنِّىٓ ءَانَسْتُ نَارًا سَـَٔاتِيكُم مِّنْهَا بِخَبَرٍ أَوْ ءَاتِيكُم بِشِهَابٍ قَبَسٍ لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَصْطَلُونَ

“[Mention] when Moses said to his family, "Indeed, I have perceived a fire. I will bring you from there information or will bring you a burning torch that you may warm yourselves."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Lost and cold, Musa promised his family news of the road or a flame for warmth; he came back with far more than both.

A reflection

One of the two, never neither

A baker's oven fails at six in the morning. A wedding cake is due at noon. She rings the repair firm and leaves a message. Then she texts the café owner across the road, whose oven sits idle on Saturdays. She does not know which will answer. She only hopes one of them will.

Musa's words have the same shape. He needed two things that night: the road he had lost, and warmth for his family. Yet he said 'or', not 'and'. I will bring you news, or a burning brand.

Three commentators stop on that small word. Why not promise both, since he needed both? Their answer is striking. He built his hope on getting at least one, trusting a habit of Allah with His servants. He hardly ever lays two deprivations on a servant at once.

Notice the honesty in 'hardly ever'. It is not a guarantee that every loss comes cushioned. It is a pattern believers have noticed for centuries: when one door shuts, another is usually left ajar.

Then one of them adds a line that turns the whole night around. Little did Musa know, as he spoke, that at that fire he would win both his needs in full. And not only the road and the warmth. He would win honour in this world and in the next.

Another commentator says simply: it was as he said. He came back from that fire with tremendous news, and took from it a tremendous light.

So hope modestly, and trust widely. Ask Allah for one of the doors you need, and do not be surprised if He opens both. Sometimes He opens a third you never knew was there.

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.