Ya-Sin · Makki · ayah 80 of 83

Ya-Sin 36:80

ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنَ ٱلشَّجَرِ ٱلْأَخْضَرِ نَارًا فَإِذَآ أَنتُم مِّنْهُ تُوقِدُونَ

“[It is] He who made for you from the green tree, fire, and then from it you ignite.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Two green twigs, still dripping sap, rubbed together into flame: the One who brings fire out of water can bring life out of dust.

A reflection

Twenty minutes for a wisp of smoke

Picture a survival course in a forest clearing. The instructor kneels with a bow drill, a spindle and a board. For twenty minutes he works, sweating, adjusting his grip, starting again. At last a thread of smoke rises, then a red ember the size of a lentil. The class cheers as if he had performed a miracle. In a sense, he had found one.

This ayah points at exactly that moment. The One who made for you, from the green tree, fire, and then, behold, from it you kindle.

One commentator traces what that involves. Allah began the tree from water, until it became green and fresh, bearing fruit. Then He returned it to dry firewood that kindles fire. That, he says, is how He does whatever He wills. Another notes that He gathered water, fire and wood together in the tree. The water does not put out the fire, and the fire does not burn the wood. A concise commentary draws the conclusion: He is the One able to bring an opposite out of its opposite.

The majesty of this ayah lands on a quiet pride: the pride of the maker. People speak of having made a fire, as of having made many things. We strike the match, flick the lighter, turn the dial. But nobody put the fire into the wood. Every flame a human being has ever lit was kindled from something he was given.

The instructor's ember and the class's applause are both right. It is a wonder. The ayah only asks you to direct the applause to the One who hid the fire in the tree.

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.