Ash-Shuraa · Makki · ayah 20 of 53

Ash-Shuraa 42:20

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ نَزِدْ لَهُۥ فِى حَرْثِهِۦ ۖ وَمَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ ٱلدُّنْيَا نُؤْتِهِۦ مِنْهَا وَمَا لَهُۥ فِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ مِن نَّصِيبٍ

“Whoever desires the harvest of the Hereafter - We increase for him in his harvest [i.e., reward]. And whoever desires the harvest [i.e., benefits] of this world - We give him thereof, but there is not for him in the Hereafter any share.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Sow your life for the Hereafter and the harvest multiplies; sow it only for this world and you get part of it.

A reflection

Two bakers at four in the morning

One classical commentator draws a simple lesson from the word ḥarth, harvest or tillage. The ayah uses it for both kinds of life: the harvest of the Hereafter and the harvest of this world. Both, he says, demand the same toil: sowing, watering, tending, reaping, cleaning. Neither comes without effort.

Then he draws the conclusion. If the labour is unavoidable either way, it is wiser to spend it on what grows and lasts than on what shrinks and ends.

Picture two bakers who start work at four in the morning in the same small bakery. They knead the same dough, feed the same ovens, carry the same trays. One counts the hours until his shift ends. The other prays the dawn prayer on a flattened flour sack in the store room. Then he makes a quiet intention for each batch: that it feeds someone, and earns honestly for his family. Their hands do identical work. Their harvests are not the same.

That is the heart of this ayah. Whoever wants the harvest of the Hereafter, We increase it for him. The commentaries explain the increase. One good deed is multiplied tenfold, up to seven hundred, and beyond as Allah wills. Another view: He helps such a person, eases the path of good, and grants success in it.

Allah does not need our intentions or our harvest. He is the Free of need (35:15). The increase is for us. It turns ordinary toil, which we were going to do anyway, into something that grows.

Many people today feel their work is meaningless: emails, shifts, spreadsheets, school runs. The ayah does not ask them to change jobs. It asks them to change what they are sowing for. The same hours, offered with a different intention, enter a different field.

Tomorrow morning, before your work begins, make one sentence of intention. Then notice how the same labour feels.

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.