An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 27 of 176

An-Nisa 4:27

وَٱللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَن يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَيُرِيدُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ ٱلشَّهَوَٰتِ أَن تَمِيلُوا۟ مَيْلًا عَظِيمًا

“Allāh wants to accept your repentance, but those who follow [their] passions want you to digress [into] a great deviation.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Two wants pull at you: Allah wants to turn towards you, and those led by appetite want you to lean far from the middle.

A reflection

Two wants, and His comes first

Wallāhu yurīdu an yatūba ʿalaykum: Allah wants to turn towards you. The previous ayah has already said so. Now it is said again, and set against a rival.

A concise commentary explains the repetition: it is restated so that something can be built on it. One classical commentator notices the shape of the two sentences. Allah's wanting opens with His name, wallāhu yurīdu, a settled statement. The other wanting opens with a verb, wa-yurīdu alladhīna. The grammar itself keeps the two wills apart. They are not equals in a contest.

That is the first thing the ego needs to hear. We like to picture ourselves at the centre, calmly choosing. In fact we are the object of several wants at once. And the deepest of them, the one that opens the sentence, is Allah's. Before any tempter has an opinion about you, He has already decided which way He faces: towards you, ready to receive your return.

Pride assumes it is self-made and self-steering. Humility admits that it is being pulled, and is grateful to know who is pulling towards home.

Does the Most High need to set Himself against those who chase desire, as if competing for our loyalty? He is the Free of need (35:15). The contrast is not for His sake. It is for ours, so that we can name the forces acting on us and choose with open eyes.

And notice what His wanting is. Not to catch you out, not to keep score. It is an yatūba ʿalaykum: to turn towards you. One classical commentator reads it as Allah wanting to bring you back to His obedience. Then He pardons what came before, even the habits of a whole former age.

So when you feel the tug of a dozen voices, remember the order of this ayah. His want comes first. It is the only one that asks nothing of you except your own good.

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.