An-Naml · Makki · ayah 79 of 93

An-Naml 27:79

فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَى ٱلْحَقِّ ٱلْمُبِينِ

“So rely upon Allāh; indeed, you are upon the clear truth.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Lean wholly on Allah because the truth you stand on is clear: a reliance that frees the heart from fear without excusing idle hands.

A reflection

Two in a cave, and the reason they were calm

The command comes with its reason attached. Rely on Allah: you are upon the clear truth. One classical scholar drew out the link. Being on the truth, he wrote, is what makes reliance real. Allah is the Truth, and the ally and helper of truth. How could someone standing on it fail to lean on Him? How could he be afraid?

He pointed to the earlier messengers. Their people threatened them, and they answered: 'Why should we not rely on Allah, when He has guided us to our ways?' (14:12). They found it strange to do anything else.

The Prophet ﷺ lived this ayah in the narrowest place imaginable. During the migration he and Abū Bakr hid in a cave while their pursuers searched the mountain. Both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim record what Abū Bakr said. He could see the men's feet at the cave's mouth. If one of them looked down at his own feet, he said, he would see us. The Prophet ﷺ replied: 'What do you think, Abū Bakr, of two whose third is Allah?'

Notice what he did not say. He did not say they would never be found. He did not deny the danger. He placed the danger beside a larger fact. Two people on the truth, with Allah as their third, are not as alone as the feet at the entrance suggest.

The fa at the start of this ayah, 'so', matters too. One commentator notes that it links the command to everything just said: your Lord judges, He is Mighty, He is Knowing. Reliance is not a mood worked up from nothing. It is the sensible conclusion of who Allah is.

When you feel the feet at the mouth of your own cave, ask the Prophet's question of yourself. Who is the third?

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.