Al-Fath · Madani · ayah 26 of 29

Al-Fath 48:26

إِذْ جَعَلَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فِى قُلُوبِهِمُ ٱلْحَمِيَّةَ حَمِيَّةَ ٱلْجَـٰهِلِيَّةِ فَأَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُۥ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِۦ وَعَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَأَلْزَمَهُمْ كَلِمَةَ ٱلتَّقْوَىٰ وَكَانُوٓا۟ أَحَقَّ بِهَا وَأَهْلَهَا ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمًا

“When those who disbelieved had put into their hearts chauvinism - the chauvinism of the time of ignorance. But Allāh sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the believers and imposed upon them the word of righteousness, and they were more deserving of it and worthy of it. And ever is Allāh, of all things, Knowing.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Quraysh lit their hearts with the hot pride of ignorance; Allah sent His calm upon the believers and fastened on them the word of mindfulness.

A reflection

What they made, and what He sent down

The ayah sets two hearts side by side and names who filled each one.

Of the deniers it says: they placed in their hearts. The pride is theirs. They made it, fed it and carried it. Of the believers it says: Allah sent down His calm. Nothing in that second half is self-made.

One classical commentator draws out three contrasts in the wording. The first is the doer: they made, He sent down. The second is the thing given: heat on one side, calm on the other. The third is ownership. The heat is called the pride of the jāhiliyya, belonging to an age of ignorance. The calm is called His calm, belonging to Allah. The same commentator adds that sent down suggests something kept ready in the treasury of mercy, waiting for its hour.

This is hard on the ego, which likes to believe its composure is its own achievement. We admire ourselves for staying cool in a crisis. The ayah gently corrects the record. The pride you generate is yours. The calm you feel, if it is true calm, came down to you.

Does Allah need to be credited for our calm? He needs nothing. The point of the credit is our safety. A person who thinks his steadiness is self-made will trust it, and it will fail him in a worse hour. A person who knows it was sent down will ask for it again.

The ayah closes on Allah is ever, of all things, Knowing. He knew which hearts were heating and which were ready to receive. He knew what each side was carrying before either side spoke.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.