Ar-Rahman · Madani · ayah 23 of 78

Ar-Rahman 55:23

فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

“So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?”

Saheeh International

Essence

The fifth time, the question follows pearls, and catches a quieter denial: the feeling that what you have paid for no longer needs thanks.

A reflection

'It's mine now, I paid for it'

At a jeweller's counter, a man pays for a string of pearls by card. As the receipt prints, he turns to his friend and says, half joking: done, it's mine now. And in a sense it is. The law agrees. The jeweller agrees. The receipt goes into the box with the pearls.

Then the refrain arrives, straight after pearl and coral: so which of your Lord's favours will you both deny?

One commentary explains why the question lands here. Wearing this adornment is a favour on the people of the earth, it says, so He reminded them of it. An early reading adds a striking word. Allah has a treasure in the seas, and He guided ordinary people to it, so that they brought out goods, benefit and adornment.

The receipt in the box records who you paid. It does not record who made the pearl, who laid down the treasure, or who guided anyone to it. The money settled your debt to the jeweller. It did not touch your debt to the Giver.

That is a very modern form of pride: the sense that purchasing power turns gifts into property, and property needs no gratitude. I earned the money, I paid the price, the thing is mine. Every link in that chain is true, and none of them reaches the bottom of the sea.

He needs nothing from our thanks (35:15). But the person who says 'it's mine' and stops there has quietly answered the refrain. The person who says 'it's mine, and it's His gift' has answered it the other way.

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.