Al-Qamar · Makki · ayah 55 of 55

Al-Qamar 54:55

فِى مَقْعَدِ صِدْقٍ عِندَ مَلِيكٍ مُّقْتَدِرٍۭ

“In a seat of honor near a Sovereign, Perfect in Ability.[1591]”

Saheeh International

Essence

A surah of storms ends on a seat: a place of truth, held for good, near the King who is able to do anything.

A reflection

Brought near by grace, not by leverage

In many organisations, there are two kinds of people sitting close to the chief. Those she trusts, and those she is afraid of. The second group are near because it is safer to keep them where she can see them. Their seats are a form of control, and everyone knows it.

One classical commentator draws exactly this contrast at the end of his commentary on this surah. Nearness to kings, he says, is a delight, and the more powerful the king, the greater the delight of being near him. But earthly kings bring near both those they love and those they fear, worried that the feared might rebel and join their enemies. Allah calls Himself muqtadir, All-Able. He has no one to fear. So He brings no one near except by His grace.

One commentary glosses malīk as an intensive form: mighty in kingship and vast in it. Another adds that it means a King who owns everything and an All-Able who is unable to do nothing. The word ʿinda, near, the commentators explain, is nearness of rank and honour, not of place.

This is where the ego has nothing left to hold. No one sits in that seat because of leverage. No one is near because they had to be managed. Every person there is there as a gift.

Is this Allah boasting of His kingship? He needs nothing from anyone. He tells us so that we stop trying to earn nearness by being important, and start asking for it by being sincere.

Ask yourself whose nearness you are currently working to earn by leverage. Then ask Allah, plainly, for the only nearness that cannot be earned that way.

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.