Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 49 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:49

وَرَسُولًا إِلَىٰ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ أَنِّى قَدْ جِئْتُكُم بِـَٔايَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ ۖ أَنِّىٓ أَخْلُقُ لَكُم مِّنَ ٱلطِّينِ كَهَيْـَٔةِ ٱلطَّيْرِ فَأَنفُخُ فِيهِ فَيَكُونُ طَيْرًۢا بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ وَأُبْرِئُ ٱلْأَكْمَهَ وَٱلْأَبْرَصَ وَأُحْىِ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ وَأُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا تَأْكُلُونَ وَمَا تَدَّخِرُونَ فِى بُيُوتِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَةً لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ

“And [make him] a messenger to the Children of Israel, [who will say], 'Indeed I have come to you with a sign from your Lord in that I design for you from clay [that which is] like the form of a bird, then I breathe into it and it becomes a bird by permission of Allāh. And I cure the blind [from birth] and the leper, and I give life to the dead - by permission of Allāh. And I inform you of what you eat and what you store in your houses. Indeed in that is a sign for you, if you are believers.”

Saheeh International

Essence

ʿĪsā came with signs from his Lord: a clay bird that flew, the sick healed, the dead raised, each by Allah's permission.

A reflection

By Allah's permission, twice

After a twelve-hour operation, a heart surgeon comes out to a waiting family. The mother takes his hands and will not let go. 'You saved him,' she says. He is quiet for a moment. 'I held the instruments,' he says. 'Thank Allah.'

This ayah lists the most astonishing works of any prophet in the Quran. A bird shaped from clay that flies. The blind from birth made to see. The leper healed. The dead brought back to life. And twice, in the middle of the list, comes the same phrase: bi-idhni llāh, by Allah's permission.

A classical commentator explains why it is repeated. It was said again to ward off the illusion of anyone who might imagine divinity in ʿĪsā. The same commentator reports that ʿĪsā's only medicine was prayer. Crowds of the sick came, and he healed them with nothing but supplication.

The lexicons picture idhn, permission, through the root of the ear. Permission is a word let into the ear, so that a person knows the way is open. Every one of these wonders happened because Allah opened the way.

Here the ego of every achiever is brought down to size. Doctors, engineers, teachers and parents all do real good, and should. But if the greatest healer in human history said 'by Allah's permission' over raising the dead, what do we say over our smaller successes? The ego wants the credit. The ayah redirects it.

Does Allah need the credit? He needs nothing (35:15). We need to give it. A person who thinks his own hands saved the patient or built the company slowly forgets whom he serves.

The surgeon in the corridor had learned this. 'I held the instruments'. The ayah says something very close about far greater things.

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.