As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 96 of 182

As-Saffat 37:96

وَٱللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ

“While Allāh created you and that which you do?"”

Saheeh International

Essence

Ibrahim completes his argument: Allah created you and what you make, so the carver and the carved both belong to Him.

A reflection

And who gave you the hands?

An architect stands on a platform at the opening of her new library. The mayor reads out her awards. Cameras flash as she cuts the ribbon. Afterwards, her elderly mother takes her arm on the steps and says, quietly and proudly: 'It is beautiful. And who gave you the hands?'

Wa-llāhu khalaqakum wa-mā taʿmalūn. Allah created you, and what you make. The sentence begins with Allah's name, placed first for emphasis, and it leaves nothing outside His making. Not the worshipper, not the wood, not the skill in the carver's fingers.

One classical commentator puts the argument simply. The worshipper and the worshipped are both created by Allah. How can one created thing bow to another? Another commentator goes further. No creature has any power except through Allah, so even the shaping of the idols happened by a strength He gave.

This is where the ego quietly shrinks. Pride loves the phrase 'I made this'. It wants the ribbon and the applause to stop at us. The ayah does not deny that we work; it calls the work ours: taʿmalūn, you do it. But it places our doing inside His creating. The talent, the time, the materials and the breath were all given.

Someone may ask: is it not self-regarding of God to keep reminding us that He made everything? It would be, if He needed the credit. But He is free of all need (35:15). A human who demands praise for gifts is asking to be filled. Allah, telling the truth about who made what, is filling us, not Himself. The reminder keeps us from the lie that would empty us: that we are self-made.

The humble response is the mother's. Admire the building. Thank the builder. Then look higher, to the One who gave the hands.

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.