Sad · Makki · ayah 54 of 88

Sad 38:54

إِنَّ هَـٰذَا لَرِزْقُنَا مَا لَهُۥ مِن نَّفَادٍ

“Indeed, this is Our provision; for it there is no depletion.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah signs the whole description with His own name: this is Our provision, and nothing given from it will ever run out.

A reflection

Even the sea runs out

Notice who speaks. For four ayat the Garden has been described. Now Allah puts His own name to it, with two words of emphasis: inna, truly, and la-, indeed. This is rizqunā, Our provision. It is not the reward of a generous king. It is the giving of the One who owns everything.

The root of the last word, nafād, running out, appears in two other ayat that explain this one. 'What is with you runs out, and what is with Allah remains' (16:96). And: if the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would run out first (18:109). The sea is the largest thing the first hearers knew. Even it runs out. What is His does not.

One scholar of the heart reads this ayah as a cry of praise. The people of the Garden are in constant increase without end, he says. Their delight is joined to One whose bounty, giving and attributes have no end. Then he breaks into praise: blessed is Allah, Owner of majesty and honour.

Set that beside human giving. A wealthy donor funds a new children's ward at a hospital. Above the entrance, his name is mounted in gold letters, larger than the words 'Children's Ward' beneath it. At the opening there are speeches and photographs. Nobody begrudges him; the ward is real and good. But the letters say something too. Human giving is limited, so it wants to be seen.

That is the ego in our generosity. Every gift costs us something, so we want it counted. We worry about running out, so we give carefully. We want our name above the door.

The Giver in this ayah gives an endless provision and loses nothing. He does not need the gift to be noticed in order to feel generous. When He says 'Our', it is not a plaque. It is a guarantee.

That should humble us twice. Once, because our largest gifts are small beside His. And again, because even what we give was His first. The donor's money, the builders' strength, the very gold of the letters: all of it was provision from Him.

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.