Ar-Rahman · Madani · ayah 22 of 78

Ar-Rahman 55:22

يَخْرُجُ مِنْهُمَا ٱللُّؤْلُؤُ وَٱلْمَرْجَانُ

“From both of them emerge pearl and coral.”

Saheeh International

Essence

In a surah of necessities, Allah also counts beauty as a favour: pearls and coral, brought up from the dark, shining before anyone drills them.

A reflection

The diver brings up what he did not make

At a charity dinner, a woman wears a pearl necklace worth more than her car. All evening she watches, without quite admitting it, who notices. The pearls are flawless. The pleasure she takes in them is almost entirely about being seen with them.

This ayah traces the necklace back past the jeweller, past the diver, to the sea. From both of them come pearl and coral. A concise commentary adds three words: by Allah's power. The early readings make the point sharper still. Some recite the verb as 'is brought out'; others as 'He brings out', or 'We bring out', with Allah as the One doing it.

The pearl was formed in the dark, on a seabed no buyer has ever stood on. No craft of anyone who will later own it went into it. The diver who brought it up did not make it. The jeweller who drilled it did not make it. The woman wearing it certainly did not.

That should loosen a particular kind of pride: the pride of owning beautiful things. Beauty is real, and the ayah counts it as a gift. But it was never ours to boast of. Every gleam on that necklace was given before anyone paid for it.

The Prophet ﷺ drew the line exactly. Allah is beautiful and loves beauty, he said; pride is rejecting the truth and looking down on people (Muslim). The pearl is not the problem. Looking down from behind it is.

He gains nothing from our acknowledgement (35:15). We gain a freer way to enjoy a pearl: as His, lent to us, and shining for its own sake.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.