Ad-Dukhan · Makki · ayah 39 of 59

Ad-Dukhan 44:39

مَا خَلَقْنَـٰهُمَآ إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

“We did not create them except in truth, but most of them do not know.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The heavens and the earth were made only with truth and for truth, yet most people live as if they had never been told.

A reflection

Measured before it was made

Mā khalaqnāhumā illā bi-al-ḥaqq: We did not create them except with truth.

The verb is khalaqa, and the lexicons give it a craftsman's picture. A leatherworker spreads a hide before him. Before a single cut, he measures it. This much for a water-skin, this much for a sandal. That measuring is the first meaning of khalq. Making comes after, and it follows the measure.

When Allah creates, the lexicons say, there is no model before Him. Yet everything still comes to the measure that wisdom requires.

A tailor measures a client three times before he cuts the cloth. The cloth is expensive. Once cut, it cannot be uncut. The client grows impatient. The tailor does not hurry.

Now look up at the sky. Every orbit, every season, every distance between the earth and the sun was measured before it was made. Nothing in it was cut carelessly.

This is where the ego shrinks. We like to think we are the measurers. We judge, plan, design and decide. But we are inside a measured work, not standing outside it. Our very bodies were sized before they were formed.

Some ask why Allah declares this about Himself. Does He need us to admire the work? The commentaries answer with the ayah's own aim. One concise commentary says He created them rightly, so that they would be evidence of His power and oneness. The declaration is for us. It is meant to wake the ones who have stopped seeing.

Whoever has truly looked at the measured world does not stay proud for long. Pride needs to believe it is the centre. The measure says otherwise.

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.