Ar-Rahman · Madani · ayah 30 of 78

Ar-Rahman 55:30

فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

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

Saheeh International

Essence

Everything in creation asks Him by its very state; the refrain singles out the only two creatures able to deny it aloud.

A reflection

Of all the askers, only two can say no

Most of us assume that acknowledging God's favours is the normal state of things, and denying them the rare exception. Surely almost everyone, at some level, knows where good things come from.

The two ayat that meet here suggest a sharper picture.

The ayah before says: everyone in the heavens and the earth asks Him (55:29). Not some of them. Everyone. One concise commentary adds two words that close every gap: they ask by speech or by state. The angels ask aloud. The animals ask by hunger. The trees ask by thirst. A classical commentary goes further. Even the stubborn person who refuses to ask with his tongue is asking with his condition, because he cannot secure what he needs.

Then the refrain narrows the lens to just two kinds of creature. Which of the favours of your Lord will you two deny? The two are jinn and humankind.

Put those together and the picture is startling. The whole of creation is asking Him. Everything depends, and everything shows it. Only two kinds of creature are able to say, with their tongues, the opposite of what their condition is saying. Only they can be utterly dependent and still deny the One they depend on.

That is what denial is in this surah. Not a rare intellectual position, but a split between the state and the speech. The lungs ask for the next breath; the tongue says no one gives it. The hunger asks for bread; the story told about it leaves the Giver out.

The refrain is not accusing the universe. It is singling out the only two voices in it capable of contradicting themselves.

Which of the favours of your Lord will you two deny? A good answer begins by letting your tongue say what your body has been saying all along. I need You. Everything I have is from You.

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.