Fatir · Makki · ayah 10 of 45

Fatir 35:10

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ٱلْعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ ٱلْعِزَّةُ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ ٱلْكَلِمُ ٱلطَّيِّبُ وَٱلْعَمَلُ ٱلصَّـٰلِحُ يَرْفَعُهُۥ ۚ وَٱلَّذِينَ يَمْكُرُونَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ ۖ وَمَكْرُ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُوَ يَبُورُ

“Whoever desires honor [through power] - then to Allāh belongs all honor.[1245] To Him ascends good speech, and righteous work raises it.[1246] But they who plot evil deeds will have a severe punishment, and the plotting of those - it will perish.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Everyone wants honour, all of it is Allah's, and the way to it is a good word rising to Him, lifted by a deed.

A reflection

The sentence with its answer left out

A man will not apologise to his brother at the family dinner. He knows he was wrong about the money. But saying so, in front of everyone, would cost him face. So the meal goes cold around a silence he calls dignity.

The ayah speaks straight to that man. 'Whoever wants honour…' It does not scold the wish. Wanting to stand tall, to be respected and not trodden on, is human. The grammar even stresses the wanting: kāna yurīdu, someone who keeps on wanting it.

Then comes a surprise. The sentence ought to finish with 'let him seek it from Allah'. Instead it puts the reason where the instruction should be. 'All honour belongs to Allah, entirely.' The commentators explain that you look for a thing only where its owner keeps it. Say 'whoever wants good advice, it is with the wise', and everyone understands: go to them.

Jamīʿan closes every side door. Not most honour, not the higher kind. All of it: honour among people, honour in the next life, honour in your own eyes.

One classical commentator describes what the Makkan elite took honour to be. It meant being under no one's command, owing obedience to nobody. That is why following a messenger felt like humiliation to them. The man at the dinner table thinks the same way. Bowing to the truth feels like losing.

The ayah turns that upside down. If all honour is His, the one who bows to Him is lifted, and the one who stands tall against Him is lowered. The ego's arithmetic is reversed.

Is this Allah hoarding glory, as a vain king hoards titles? Look at what He does with it. 'Honour belongs to Allah, to His Messenger and to the believers' (63:8). One commentator explains: His by His own being, theirs by nearness to Him. He does not keep honour locked away. He hands it to whoever comes near. The man at the table could have some tonight, for the price of one sentence to his brother.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.