Az-Zukhruf · Makki · ayah 34 of 89

Az-Zukhruf 43:34

وَلِبُيُوتِهِمْ أَبْوَٰبًا وَسُرُرًا عَلَيْهَا يَتَّكِـُٔونَ

“And for their houses - doors and couches [of silver] upon which to recline”

Saheeh International

Essence

Doors and couches of silver, reclining like kings with nothing to trouble them: Allah would hand out even this, so little does it weigh.

A reflection

The ease of kings, on loan

The list goes on. After the silver roofs and stairs of the last ayah come silver doors, and couches on which they recline. One commentary adds a short phrase that completes the picture. They recline on them as kings do, with nothing troubling them.

That is the dream of many lives. Not only to own fine things, but to lean back among them, untroubled. A house that keeps the world out. A couch where nothing is required of you.

And Allah says this too is something He would simply give, to those who reject Him, if it would not draw everyone after them. Another commentary says such things would be given as a gradual leading on, and a trial.

The ego takes a long time to absorb this. We tend to assume that the person reclining at ease has arrived somewhere. That they are in control. The ayah shows who is really in control. The couch, the door and the ease are all in His hand to give, and to give to anyone.

The Prophet ﷺ once walked through a market and picked up a dead young goat with tiny ears. He asked who would like it for a dirham. Nobody would take it for anything. He said: by Allah, this world is less to Allah than this is to you (Sahih Muslim).

A retired executive sits in the conservatory he spent his career paying for. His grandson asks what he did all those years. He tries to explain the job, and hears how small it sounds.

The only true King is not impressed by our thrones. That is not an insult. It is an invitation to stop bowing to them ourselves.

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.