Al-'Ankabut · Makki · ayah 62 of 69

Al-'Ankabut 29:62

ٱللَّهُ يَبْسُطُ ٱلرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِۦ وَيَقْدِرُ لَهُۥٓ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

“Allāh extends provision for whom He wills of His servants and restricts for him. Indeed Allāh is, of all things, Knowing.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah alone widens and narrows provision, even for the same person in different seasons, and He knows exactly what each servant can carry.

A reflection

The treasurer is not the king

The ayah opens with His name before any verb. Allāhu yabsuṭu: Allah spreads. One commentator glosses it simply. He spreads it for whom He wills, and no one else does.

An early commentator gives the meaning as if Allah were speaking. Your provisions, and how they are shared out among you, are in My hand and no one else's. I widen them for whom I will, and I tighten them for whom I will.

A logistics director signs off the wages each month for two hundred staff. He feels it as a weight and, quietly, as a kind of greatness. Two hundred families eat because of my signature.

Then comes this ayah. The money passed through his signature as rain passes through a gutter. He chose the angle of the gutter. He did not make the cloud.

One classical commentator draws out the words li-man yashāʾ, for whom He wills. He compares a king's treasurer with a free giver. When a treasurer hands over a gift on the king's order, the receiver owes him little. It was never his choice. But a gift from one who was free to withhold it is a full favour. Provision comes from Allah by His own will alone. So it is complete kindness, owed complete gratitude.

That reverses the director's pride. He is the treasurer, not the king. The humility is not a demotion. It frees him to sign with care, and then to sleep.

And Allah needs neither his signature nor his thanks. The gratitude is asked for the director's own sake, so that he sees the world the right way up.

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.