Al-Jathiyah · Makki · ayah 22 of 37

Al-Jathiyah 45:22

وَخَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَلِتُجْزَىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍۭ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ

“And Allāh created the heavens and earth in truth and so that every soul may be recompensed for what it has earned, and they will not be wronged.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The universe was built on truth, which means no wrong goes unanswered and no good deed is ever lost in the paperwork.

A reflection

The skyline does not belong to the man who owns it

Allah created the heavens and the earth with the truth. One narration-based commentator explains: He created them for justice and truth, not for oppression and injustice. Another adds that He created them to show His power and His oneness.

Picture a property developer who owns a good part of a city's skyline. From his office on the top floor he can point to tower after tower bearing his company's name. He speaks of 'my city'. Each morning the sun rises over his buildings without asking his permission, and each evening it sets behind them on a schedule he cannot change. The towers are his, in a narrow legal sense. The sky they stand in is not.

That is the quiet correction this ayah offers to every ego that confuses ownership with sovereignty. We build, buy, sign and control. The ego starts to believe that the world is shaped by its will, and that whatever it can get away with is permitted. The ayah says the foundation was laid by Someone else, and laid on truth. Power does not change that foundation; it only reveals what a person does on top of it.

This is humbling, and it is also a relief. The universe is not a market where the richest bidder writes the rules. It is a creation made with truth, where the developer and the cleaner who polishes his windows stand on the same moral ground.

A sceptic might ask whether Allah created all this simply to display His power, as a ruler builds a palace to impress. The ayah answers in its second half. He created it with truth and so that every soul may be repaid. The display is not vanity. It is the setting for justice, built for the sake of the people who live in it. He needs nothing from any of it (35:15).

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.