Luqman · Makki · ayah 5 of 34

Luqman 31:5

أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ عَلَىٰ هُدًى مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ ۖ وَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ

“Those are on [right] guidance from their Lord, and it is those who are the successful.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The verdict that closed Al-Baqarah's portrait closes this one too: guidance from their Lord now, and lasting success in the end.

A reflection

The same verdict, reached through another door

This sentence first appears at 2:5, and its full treatment lives there. Here it returns word for word, but the people it describes have arrived by a different route.

In Al-Baqarah, the verdict follows the God-conscious: those who believe in the unseen, pray, spend, and believe in what was sent down. Here it follows the doers of good: those who pray, give zakat and are certain of the Last Day. One classical commentator draws the line between the two words. The God-conscious guard against disbelief; the doers of good go on to bring faith in its full reality.

Two starting points, one ending. Whether you begin by guarding or by adding, the sentence that waits for you is the same: upon guidance from their Lord, and the successful.

One commentary gives the success its full width: in this world and the next. Another describes it as reaching what you hoped for and being kept from what you feared.

The repetition is itself a kindness. Allah does not keep one verdict for the readers of Al-Baqarah and another for the readers of Luqmān. The door is described differently, because people differ. What lies through it does not change.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.