Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 126 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:126

وَمَا جَعَلَهُ ٱللَّهُ إِلَّا بُشْرَىٰ لَكُمْ وَلِتَطْمَئِنَّ قُلُوبُكُم بِهِۦ ۗ وَمَا ٱلنَّصْرُ إِلَّا مِنْ عِندِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلْحَكِيمِ

“And Allāh made it not except as [a sign of] good tidings for you and to reassure your hearts thereby. And victory is not except from Allāh, the Exalted in Might, the Wise -”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah made that only as good news and to settle your hearts, for help comes from none but Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.

A reflection

Power with a bridle on it

At a ploughing match the prize does not go to the strongest horse. It goes to the straightest furrow. A pair that can pull a plough through anything is worth nothing all day unless the man behind them can hold the line.

The ayah closes with two names, and the lexicons on them make one picture.

The first root means strength and hardness. Ground called ʿazāz was hard earth where rain ran off fast and hooves could not sink. A poet called the eagle ʿazīza because she nests on the highest peaks, out of reach. A thing ʿazza when it grew so rare that it could hardly be found, and so became dear. A proverb said: whoever prevails takes the spoils.

The second root means holding back in order to set right. Its first picture is the ḥakama, the part of a horse's bridle that runs round the jaw. It stops the horse bolting and keeps it under its rider. The Arabs made it of rawhide, for strength and not for decoration. A poet warned a tribe to rein in their fools before he lost his temper. From that bridle came the judge, who holds a wrongdoer back from injustice. From it too came ḥikma: knowledge that restrains from folly and puts things in their right place.

So the two names together are strength that cannot be reached, with a bridle on it.

One commentator reads the pairing as the perfection of His power and the perfection of His knowledge. Nothing of His servants' needs is hidden from Him, and He is not unable to answer. And he draws the conclusion: whoever is like that, help is to be looked for only from His mercy.

Now notice where that leaves the ego, because almost all of us want one of these names without the other. We want capacity. Strength, reach, the ability to make things happen, a position where nobody can touch us. What we do not pray for is the bridle, because the bridle is the part that stops us.

And a person who gets the first without the second is exactly the horse the lexicons describe: powerful, unled, and ruinous in a field.

The ayah says the help came from Someone who has both. So it arrived in the right measure, at the right moment, for reasons you were not told. The restraint in it was not a shortage.

So look at the strength you actually have, however modest, and ask what is holding its jaw. If the answer is nothing, ask Him for the bridle before you ask Him for more power.

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.