Luqman · Makki · ayah 23 of 34

Luqman 31:23

وَمَن كَفَرَ فَلَا يَحْزُنكَ كُفْرُهُۥٓ ۚ إِلَيْنَا مَرْجِعُهُمْ فَنُنَبِّئُهُم بِمَا عَمِلُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ

“And whoever has disbelieved - let not his disbelief grieve you. To Us is their return, and We will inform them of what they did. Indeed, Allāh is Knowing of that within the breasts.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Do not let anyone's rejection roughen your heart: they return to Him, the account is His to tell, and He knows what every chest holds.

A reflection

The cake judge who was sure she was fair

At a village fête, a woman judges the cake competition. She marks down her neighbour's lemon sponge: slightly dry, she writes. She believes every word. That evening, washing up, a small thought surfaces. The neighbour won last year, and said something unkind afterwards. Was the sponge dry? She honestly does not know.

The ayah ends with a sentence that should humble anyone who trusts their own account of themselves. Inna Allāha ʿalīmun bi-dhāti al-ṣudūr: Allah knows well what the chests contain. The lexicons call the ṣadr the chest that holds the heart, with all its thoughts, desires, fears and anger. Dhāt al-ṣudūr is what keeps company with the chest: its private contents, the things that live there.

One commentary gives the logic of the line. If He knows what is hidden in the chests, what do you suppose He knows of everything else? Another notes that He knows their secret and their open alike. Another uses a striking word for what the chest holds: the very thing that ruins a person.

This is where the ego shrinks. We assume we are the final authority on our own motives. I meant well. I was only being honest. It was not about her. The ayah says there is a Knower who sees further into your chest than you do. You are a witness to your heart, not its judge.

Someone may ask: why does Allah announce His knowledge at all? Is it to intimidate? Look at who is being addressed. The line comforts the Prophet ﷺ, grieving over people who rejected him. It promises that the reckoning will be exact, not based on surfaces. Knowledge in the hands of the Just is not a threat to the innocent. A human who learns your secrets may use them as leverage. Allah has no use for leverage over anyone. His knowing serves justice, and justice serves us.

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.