Az-Zumar · Makki · ayah 67 of 75

Az-Zumar 39:67

وَمَا قَدَرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِۦ وَٱلْأَرْضُ جَمِيعًا قَبْضَتُهُۥ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ وَٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتُ مَطْوِيَّـٰتٌۢ بِيَمِينِهِۦ ۚ سُبْحَـٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَـٰلَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ

“They have not appraised Allāh with true appraisal,[1358] while the earth entirely will be [within] His grip[1359] on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be folded in His right hand.[1360] Exalted is He and high above what they associate with Him.”

Saheeh International

Essence

People never measured Allah's true greatness: on that Day the whole earth is in His grip, the heavens rolled up in His right hand.

A reflection

We measured everything except Him

Wa-mā qadarū Allāha ḥaqqa qadrih: they did not measure Allah with His true measure. Several commentaries explain it: they did not honour Him as His greatness deserves. One commentary adds why. When a person truly knows a great thing and measures it rightly in his own mind, he honours it rightly.

The root of qadr is measure: the full extent of a thing, where it ends. The lexicons record an old line of poetry: measure with your own forearm. Know your size.

That is the quiet indictment of the ayah, and a quiet blow to human pride. Human beings measure everything. Salaries, distances, followers, the size of a house. But many never measure the One who made the measures. They shrink Him to fit beside their idols, their careers, their fears. The ego grows to fill the space He should occupy.

An early report preserved by the commentaries makes it simple. Whoever believes that Allah has power over everything has measured Him truly. Whoever does not, has not. Another early scholar said: had they measured Him truly, they would not have denied Him.

Picture an astronomer who has spent thirty years photographing distant galaxies from a mountain observatory. A visitor asks whether the work has made her feel important. She laughs. Every new image makes me smaller, she says, and strangely lighter. The problems I brought up the mountain look the right size from here.

The ayah asks for that recalibration, done not with a telescope but with the heart. A sceptic might ask whether a God who complains of being underestimated is vain. But the one harmed by a small picture of God is never God. It is the person who lives under a small sky, carrying burdens a great Lord would have lifted.

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.