Al-'Ankabut · Makki · ayah 6 of 69

Al-'Ankabut 29:6

وَمَن جَـٰهَدَ فَإِنَّمَا يُجَـٰهِدُ لِنَفْسِهِۦٓ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَغَنِىٌّ عَنِ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ

“And whoever strives only strives for [the benefit of] himself. Indeed, Allāh is Free from need of the worlds.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Whoever strives strives only for his own soul; Allah is free of all need of the worlds and gains nothing from anyone's effort.

A reflection

The week he stopped praying to see if God noticed

A young man, angry after a bad year, stops praying for a week. Not from laziness, but as a test. If God cares, he reasons, something will happen. He is waiting for heaven to feel the loss.

This ayah answers him before he starts. Indeed Allah is free of need of the worlds. The sentence carries a double emphasis: inna, and the la- fixed to ghaniyy. And notice the scope. Not 'free of need of you', but of the worlds. One early gloss lists humans, jinn and angels, and their worship too.

The Prophet ﷺ conveyed it from his Lord in vivid terms. Suppose the first and last of you, humans and jinn, all had the heart of the most God-fearing man among you. It would add nothing to My kingdom. If all had the heart of the most wicked man, it would take nothing from it. Sahih Muslim records it.

This is where the ego shrinks hardest. We carry a quiet sense that our worship is a favour. I prayed, I fasted, I gave; surely that counts for something up there. It does count, but not as a gift to Allah. He lacked nothing before your first prostration. He will lack nothing if you never make another.

Does a self-sufficient God then demand worship for His own praise? The commentators say the opposite. He commanded and forbade out of mercy to His servants, being free of need of them and their obedience. Another adds that He commanded it to open the way to reward for them.

The young man's week of silence harmed only one person. And the door he walked away from was still open when he came back.

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.