Ash-Shuraa · Makki · ayah 49 of 53

Ash-Shuraa 42:49

لِّلَّهِ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ ۚ يَهَبُ لِمَن يَشَآءُ إِنَـٰثًا وَيَهَبُ لِمَن يَشَآءُ ٱلذُّكُورَ

“To Allāh belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; He creates what He wills. He gives to whom He wills female [children], and He gives to whom He wills males.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The heavens and the earth are His, and so are our children, given as gifts, with daughters named first.

A reflection

Every brick, and not one of them mine

A man shows a friend round his new house. He points to the extension, the garden, the kitchen he designed. All mine, he says, every brick. His friend smiles and asks, gently, who made the clay.

The ayah opens with a sentence that recalibrates every claim of ownership. Li-llāhi mulku al-samāwāti wa-al-arḍ: to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. One commentator adds: His alone, with no partner and no independent rival. The root of mulk pictures having a thing in your grip. The lexicons distinguish owning from ruling, and note that every human hold is partial and lent.

One classical commentator explains why this sentence follows the ayah before, which described people exulting at blessings and forgetting them in hardship. The aim, he says, is that a person not be deceived by the wealth and status he holds. Suppose he knows that everything is Allah's dominion, and that what is in his hand is there by Allah's grant. That knowledge leads him to greater obedience. If he believes his blessings come from his own intelligence and effort, he stays deluded by himself and turns away.

That is the ego's favourite story: I built this. The ayah does not deny the man's effort. It places the effort inside a larger ownership.

A sceptic might hear a ruler insisting on his property rights. But the ayah's very next words are about giving: yahabu, He gifts. The One who owns everything is the One who keeps handing things over.

The man with the house can still love his kitchen. He might simply say, as he shows it off, al-ḥamdu li-llāh. Every brick was lent.

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.