An-Najm · Makki · ayah 47 of 62

An-Najm 53:47

وَأَنَّ عَلَيْهِ ٱلنَّشْأَةَ ٱلْأُخْرَىٰ

“And that [incumbent] upon Him is the other [i.e., next] creation.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The second creation is a promise Allah has placed upon Himself, and the grammar says it will not merely be attempted but will happen.

A reflection

The One who says "upon Me"

A man is invited to a friend's wedding, a nephew's graduation, a colleague's leaving drinks. To each, he gives the same answer: 'I'll try to make it.' It keeps every door open and binds him to nothing. If he goes, he is generous. If he does not, he never promised.

Most of us know this habit. Commitment feels like losing a little power. Whoever promises can be held to it.

This ayah does the opposite, and does it on the largest scale imaginable. Wa-anna ʿalayhi al-nashʾata al-ukhrā: and that upon Him is the second creation. The small word ʿalayhi, upon Him, is the language of obligation. In ordinary Arabic you say ʿalayka, it is upon you, of a debt you must pay.

Who could place anything upon Allah? No one. One classical commentator was careful here. It is not that reason or anyone else binds Him, he said. It is upon Him by His own promise. He has said He will raise the dead, and His promise holds. Another explained that, because the deniers rejected the resurrection, the ayah speaks emphatically, as if He had made it binding on Himself. The Quran uses the same kind of language elsewhere: 'Your Lord has written mercy upon Himself' (6:54).

So the doubt answers itself. This is not a weak god pinned down by duty. It is the most powerful Being choosing to commit. He needs nothing from us, and still He says: this one is on Me.

Set that beside the man with his 'I'll try'. Our hedging is not strength. It is fear of being held to account. Real power can afford to promise, because nothing can stop it keeping the promise.

The ego shrinks in two ways. We see how small our own commitments are. And we see whose promise our hope actually rests on. Not on our own staying power, but on a word the King of all things has placed upon Himself.

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.