An-Najm · Makki · ayah 18 of 62

An-Najm 53:18

لَقَدْ رَأَىٰ مِنْ ءَايَـٰتِ رَبِّهِ ٱلْكُبْرَىٰٓ

“He certainly saw of the greatest signs of his Lord.”

Saheeh International

Essence

He saw some of his Lord's greatest signs, and if the one taken highest saw only some, none of us can hold His greatness.

A reflection

Only some, even at the summit

Notice the small word min: of, some of. Laqad raʾā min āyāti rabbihi l-kubrā: he certainly saw some of the greatest signs of his Lord. One concise classical commentary says it plainly: some of them.

A classical note on one commentary draws out why that matters. Had the ayah said he saw all the greatest signs, it would imply that Allah's signs can be taken in completely. They cannot. Even the one who was taken higher than any creature saw a portion, and there remained what he did not see.

Sit with that for a moment. The Prophet ﷺ passed through the heavens and stood at the Lote Tree of the Boundary. He saw the angel in his true form and the green expanse filling the horizon. And all of it was some of the signs of his Lord.

Picture a lighthouse keeper on a moonless night stepping out onto the gallery with a torch. The beam picks out ten metres of black water, a gull, the edge of a wave. Beyond it, the sea goes on for an ocean.

That is the circle of everything we know. Our sciences, our libraries, our proudest achievements: ten metres of lit water. Here the ego quietly loses its footing. What exactly was I proud of knowing?

And a doubt answers itself. Does Allah show such signs to be admired? He is free of need of us all (39:7). The signs were shown to His servant, for him: to steady him, to fill him with certainty for what lay ahead. The ego that grasps its smallness here is not crushed. It is relieved of pretending to hold the sea.

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.