Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 132 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:132

وَأَطِيعُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلرَّسُولَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

“And obey Allāh and the Messenger that you may obtain mercy.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Obey Allah and the Messenger, so that mercy may be shown to you: the warning of the Fire is answered at once with a promise.

A reflection

You cannot produce mercy, only stand where it falls

Nobody has ever made themselves sleep. You can darken the room, put the phone in a drawer, stop drinking coffee after four, lie down at a sensible hour. Then you wait, and it either comes or it does not. Every insomniac knows the particular humiliation of trying harder at it.

Look closely at the last word of this ayah. It is passive. Not so that you may show mercy, and not so that you may earn mercy. So that you may be shown mercy. The verb has someone else as its agent, and that someone is not you.

And before it stands laʿalla, perhaps. One commentary notices how much weight that small word carries in verses like this. It says the believer's hope of mercy is tied to being thorough in obedience. Anyone who thinks the verse through stops entertaining empty expectations about Allah. Another glosses the ending as: so that you may attain His mercy, or, hoping for His mercy.

So the shape of the sentence is this. Do the part you can do. The outcome is His to give.

If that sounds like a demotion, look at what it saves you from. The alternative belief is that obedience is a vending machine, and that belief destroys people in both directions. It makes the diligent proud, because they think the output is theirs. It makes the struggling despair, because their receipts never seem to add up.

And note who gains. Not Him. He says plainly that He is free of all need (35:15), and that He asks no provision from anyone (51:57). A commentary here reads the point as: so that you may be shown mercy and not punished. That is the entire return, and the entire return is yours.

So do the darkened room tonight. One prayer on time. One thing He forbade, left alone. Then stop trying to make the mercy arrive, and go to sleep.

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.