Az-Zumar · Makki · ayah 52 of 75

Az-Zumar 39:52

أَوَلَمْ يَعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَبْسُطُ ٱلرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ وَيَقْدِرُ ۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَـٰتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ

“Do they not know that Allāh extends provision for whom He wills and restricts [it]? Indeed in that are signs for a people who believe.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah spreads provision wide for some and measures it narrowly for others, and neither cleverness nor the stars explain which.

A reflection

Two babies born in the same hour

One commentary makes a plain argument from what anyone can observe. People differ widely in provision, so something must cause it. It is not intelligence, because we see the clever and capable in severe hardship, and the ignorant and weak in great comfort. It is not the stars. In the very hour a great king is born, a multitude of others are born too, with utterly different fates.

Picture two babies born in the same maternity ward within the same hour. Forty years later, one owns a chain of shops. The other drives a delivery van for one of them. Neither chose his starting point, his health or the year the market turned.

That is humbling for the ego that credits its own brilliance. Effort matters, but it is not the final cause. The commentary quotes an old verse: neither Jupiter's luck nor Saturn's ill fortune decides for us. It is the decree of the Lord of the sky.

The ayah asks only: do they not know this? It is not hidden. It is in every street.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.