Al-Ahqaf · Makki · ayah 3 of 35

Al-Ahqaf 46:3

مَا خَلَقْنَا ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَآ إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَأَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ۚ وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ عَمَّآ أُنذِرُوا۟ مُعْرِضُونَ

“We did not create the heavens and earth and what is between them except in truth and [for] a specified term. But those who disbelieve, from that of which they are warned, are turning away.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Everything above, below and between was made for a real purpose and a named end, yet people look away from what they were warned of.

A reflection

You are part of 'what lies between them'

The ayah counts creation in three parts: the heavens, the earth, and 'what lies between them'. That last phrase is wide enough to hold clouds, birds, cities, and the person reading this sentence. You are not standing outside the inventory. You are an item in it.

The speaker uses the plural of majesty: We did not create. It is the voice of the One who made the whole of it. What follows is a flat denial that any of it was made for nothing.

Picture a chief executive whose portrait hangs in the reception of the firm he built. On a family weekend he walks past a cross-section of an ancient tree in a museum. Its rings are labelled with centuries. A small brass marker shows where his country was founded. The whole history of his company would fit inside the bark. He stands there longer than his children expect.

That is the first gift of this ayah: it puts the ego back to scale. Our pride is usually built on a small patch of 'what lies between'. A title, a house, a following, a reputation in one town. Set against the heavens and the earth, it is a ring near the bark.

Is it arrogant of the Creator to speak like this? A sceptic might say so. But notice what He claims. Not that He deserves applause, but that nothing He made is pointless. One commentary explains that the heavens and earth were made so that people would recognise their Maker's greatness and know He can bring them back. The announcement is for our benefit. He is free of need (35:15). We are the ones who need to know that the inventory we belong to was made on purpose.

The humbling and the dignity arrive together. You are small. You are also not an accident.

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.