Ghafir · Makki · ayah 79 of 85

Ghafir 40:79

ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلْأَنْعَـٰمَ لِتَرْكَبُوا۟ مِنْهَا وَمِنْهَا تَأْكُلُونَ

“It is Allāh who made for you the grazing animals upon which you ride, and some of them you eat.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah made livestock for you: some to ride, some to eat; the animals that carried human life for millennia were His gift, not our invention.

A reflection

Carried by what we did not make

Allāhu alladhī jaʿala lakumu al-anʿām. Allah is the One who made livestock for you.

After the long scene of the Fire, the surah returns to gifts. A theological commentary notices the shift. Having said much about the warning, the surah returns to what points to the Wise and Merciful God, and to His favours.

A narration-based commentary lists what the animals give. Camels are ridden, eaten and milked, and carry heavy loads on long journeys to distant lands. Cattle are eaten, give milk and plough the earth. Sheep are eaten and give milk. From all of them come wool and hair, made into furnishings, clothing and goods.

For most of human history, almost everything people needed came, in some way, from these animals. Travel, food, clothing, ploughing, trade. And none of it was designed by human beings. We found the animals already made, already able to be tamed, already fitted to our needs.

A man in a city wakes on a woollen rug, puts on leather shoes, drinks milk in his tea and eats a meat sandwich for lunch. In a single morning, he has relied on animals in a dozen ways. He has never touched a living cow. He has not once thought about where any of it came from.

That is the ego's blind spot. We speak of our economy, our food systems, our progress, as though we built them from nothing. The ayah quietly points out that the foundations were given.

Some may object that it is arrogant to say animals were made for people. A later commentary explains the phrase for you as meaning created for your sake, for your benefit. But a benefit given is a trust, not a licence. The ayah does not make humans the owners of creation. It makes them guests at a table someone else laid.

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.