Ghafir · Makki · ayah 64 of 85

Ghafir 40:64

ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلْأَرْضَ قَرَارًا وَٱلسَّمَآءَ بِنَآءً وَصَوَّرَكُمْ فَأَحْسَنَ صُوَرَكُمْ وَرَزَقَكُم مِّنَ ٱلطَّيِّبَـٰتِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمُ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ ۖ فَتَبَارَكَ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ

“It is Allāh who made for you the earth a place of settlement and the sky a structure [i.e., ceiling] and formed you and perfected your forms and provided you with good things. That is Allāh, your Lord; then blessed is Allāh, Lord of the worlds.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah settled the earth beneath you, pitched the sky above, shaped you beautifully and fed you good things; blessed is the Lord of the worlds.

A reflection

If the flow stopped for an instant

Fa-tabāraka allāhu rabbu al-ʿālamīn. So blessed is Allah, Lord of the worlds.

The word tabāraka comes from b-r-k, and its root picture in the lexicons is gentle. A camel kneeling at the water, chest to the ground, staying there. Good that settles into a thing and quietly grows. This is established. A theological commentary gives two senses of tabāraka: lasting and firm, or abundant in good.

The ayah reaches this word only after five gifts. The settled earth, the built sky, your shaping, the beauty of your shape, and good provision. Then it names the Giver, and declares Him blessed.

A later commentary adds a sentence that should stop any ego in its tracks. Lord of the worlds, it explains, means their Owner and Nurturer. Everything is under His dominion, dependent on Him in its very existence and every state. If His flow were cut off from it for an instant, it would cease to exist entirely.

We tend to imagine we stand on our own feet, and that Allah intervenes from time to time. The ayah describes the opposite. Our existence is a continuous gift. Nothing in us holds itself up.

A gardener raises a greenhouse of seedlings through a hard spring. One frosty night, the heater fails. By morning, every tray is black. Nothing was wrong with the seedlings except one thing: they had depended, every hour, on a warmth they never supplied themselves.

A doubt can arise. Is this a God praising Himself? Read the word again. Tabāraka describes His blessing, good that settles and grows, flowing outwards. The ayah lists what that blessing has done for us, and then names its source. We are not asked to add to His blessing. We are told we are living inside it.

Pride cannot survive that knowledge for long. Every breath is His gift, arriving again.

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.