Fatir · Makki · ayah 28 of 45

Fatir 35:28

وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَٱلدَّوَآبِّ وَٱلْأَنْعَـٰمِ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَٰنُهُۥ كَذَٰلِكَ ۗ إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى ٱللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ٱلْعُلَمَـٰٓؤُا۟ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ غَفُورٌ

“And among people and moving creatures and grazing livestock are various colors similarly. Only those fear Allāh, from among His servants, who have knowledge. Indeed, Allāh is Exalted in Might and Forgiving.”

Saheeh International

Essence

After fruit, rock, people and animals, the ayah pauses: those who truly know Allah do not swagger but grow still before Him, Mighty and Forgiving.

A reflection

The child at the railing is not the brave one

Picture a fourth-floor balcony on a summer evening. A two-year-old pushes her face between the railings and laughs at the pigeons far below. Her father steps out carrying two cups of tea. He freezes, and his stomach drops. She is not braver than he is. She simply cannot see the height.

One classical scholar used exactly this logic to explain the ayah. It is not in human nature, he wrote, to face a fire, a lion or an enemy and feel nothing. A man who throws himself from a height without fearing death proves only one thing. He does not know what a height is. In such places, fearlessness is evidence of missing knowledge.

Now follow the ayah's path. It has walked through fruit of every shade from one rain, and mountains streaked white, red and raven-black. Then come people, creeping creatures and livestock, all varied 'likewise'. Then it says: only those of His servants who know truly have khashya of Allah. One commentary puts the rule plainly. The fuller the knowledge of the Mighty, the All-Knowing, the greater the awe. An early explanation names the knowers simply: those who know that Allah has power over everything.

This is where the ego is meant to shrink. The opposite of khashya is not courage. It is the swagger of someone who has not seen the drop. Arrogance before Allah is a child at the railing, laughing because she cannot see. Knowledge does not make a person bigger before Him. It moves him from the child's place to the father's.

Does Allah want to be feared because He needs power over us? The father's fear does nothing for the father. It is the child it keeps from the edge. One early definition says khashya is what stands between you and disobeying Allah. He gains nothing from it. You are the one it brings home.

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.