At-Tur · Makki · ayah 22 of 49

At-Tur 52:22

وَأَمْدَدْنَـٰهُم بِفَـٰكِهَةٍ وَلَحْمٍ مِّمَّا يَشْتَهُونَ

“And We will provide them with fruit and meat from whatever they desire.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah does not stop at 'nothing taken away': He keeps adding, fruit and meat, whatever each person desires, with appetite and fulfilment always arriving together.

A reflection

Not just nothing lost: more added

In the wet season, a river in a valley keeps rising. It is not one great storm. It is tributary after tributary, each stream pouring its water in, until the river is broader than anyone remembers. Nothing has been taken from it. Everything keeps being added.

The first hearers had that picture in the word amdadnā. The root means stretching out, and feeding more in. A river is stretched when another stream pours into it and swells it. Whatever feeds a thing with more of its kind is its supply. Ink is midād, because the pen keeps drawing from it. That picture is established. One commentary adds that the word implies one supply after another, time after time, and that this form of the verb is usually used for what is loved.

A classical theologian notices why the word comes just here. The previous ayah said Allah did not decrease the parents' reward at all (52:21). But 'not decreasing' could mean simply keeping things equal. So the very next ayah goes further: wa-amdadnāhum, and We kept supplying them. Not merely nothing lost; more added. He compares it to the way a generous king, when he favours a servant, does not just keep his allowance the same but increases it.

This is the way Allah gives, and it is worth noticing in our own lives too. We often thank Him only when nothing is taken: the scan came back clear, the job was not cut. But much of His giving is the steady, quiet adding. A new friend. An unexpected insight. A morning of energy after weeks of tiredness. Tributaries we never noticed joining the river.

Today, look for one thing that has been added to your life recently, not merely kept. Name it to Allah, and thank Him for the increase.

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.