Az-Zukhruf · Makki · ayah 85 of 89

Az-Zukhruf 43:85

وَتَبَارَكَ ٱلَّذِى لَهُۥ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا وَعِندَهُۥ عِلْمُ ٱلسَّاعَةِ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ

“And blessed is He to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them and with whom is knowledge of the Hour and to whom you will be returned.”

Saheeh International

Essence

All above, below and between belongs to the One whose good settles and grows; He alone knows the Hour, and every soul goes home to Him.

A reflection

Everything labelled 'mine'

Alladhī lahu mulku al-samāwāti wa-l-arḍi wa-mā baynahumā: the One to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them.

One major early commentator draws the conclusion of this clause in a single question. His authority runs over all of it; His decree is carried out in all of it. So how could anything within His dominion be His partner?

The root m-l-k means having a thing within your grip: to own it, to rule it, to hold it in your power. The lexicons distinguish milk, ownership, from mulk, rule. Every king owns, but not every owner is a king. And every human hold is partial and lent. It was given after it was not, and it will be taken.

Picture a woman clearing out her late father's garage. On the shelves are boxes he marked in thick pen: MINE. DO NOT TOUCH. Inside are old tools, receipts, a stamp collection. For forty years they were his. Now they are hers, for a while. One day someone will clear her shelves too.

The ayah sets every such label beside the only one that is permanent. Everything in the heavens, everything on the earth, everything between, belongs to Him. Not lent. Not temporary. Not shared.

That shrinks the ego's claim to ownership. Our houses, our talents, our children, our time: we hold them, but we do not own them in His sense. They were handed to us, and they will be handed on.

Does Allah need to remind us that He owns everything? No. Nothing we think changes His dominion. The reminder is for us. It loosens the grip of the word 'mine' on our hearts, so we hold things as trusts rather than possessions.

The father's boxes were not wrong. They were simply honest about a temporary arrangement. The ayah tells us who the permanent Owner is.

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.