Adh-Dhariyat · Makki · ayah 57 of 60

Adh-Dhariyat 51:57

مَآ أُرِيدُ مِنْهُم مِّن رِّزْقٍ وَمَآ أُرِيدُ أَن يُطْعِمُونِ

“I do not want from them any provision, nor do I want them to feed Me.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Human masters keep servants to earn for them; Allah keeps servants to give to them, and asks nothing back, not even a plate of food.

A reflection

The Master who does not need the servant

Several commentators explain this ayah by contrast with the masters of their own world. Human owners, one wrote, own their servants in order to use them for their living. One is sent out with goods to trade for profit. One is set to work a field. One is apprenticed to a craft so his wages can be collected. One cuts firewood, one cooks, one bakes. The servant exists to produce something for the master.

Then comes the reversal. Allah, the Owner of all owners, says in effect: I do not want you for that. I do not need you to earn My provision, or even your own. I am free of need of you and of everything you could do for Me. I am the One who provides for you. Go and occupy yourselves with what will bring you happiness.

This is majesty of a kind we rarely meet. Picture a company where every employee appears on a weekly spreadsheet, ranked by revenue generated per hour. Those at the bottom are quietly let go. Nobody there would believe in a master who keeps his servants simply to give to them.

That is the ego's deepest suspicion about God. We assume He is like us: that He made us because He wanted something, and that our worth to Him is our output. The ayah dismantles that. He wants nothing from us. He wants only what is for us.

This is what humbles pride. Pride depends on being needed. It wants to be indispensable, to believe that something would collapse without it. The ayah removes that prop entirely. Nothing in Allah's kingdom depends on you.

Is He then indifferent? The surrounding ayat answer no. He made you for His worship (51:56), and He provides for you (51:58). You are not needed. You are wanted, and given to. That is a safer place to stand.

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.