Ar-Rahman · Madani · ayah 42 of 78

Ar-Rahman 55:42

فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

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

Saheeh International

Essence

After the criminals' marks are made public, the refrain points to a quieter favour: the sins He is covering for you now.

A reflection

The God who sees everything is also the God who covers

There is a fear many believers carry quietly, and the ayah before this refrain can sharpen it. The criminals are known by their marks. Everything is visible. And the half-formed conclusion follows: a God who sees everything must be a God who exposes everything. One day every secret will be on display.

The Prophet ﷺ described that Day differently, and Sahih al-Bukhari preserves his words.

Allah will bring the believer near, he said, and place His covering over him, and screen him. Then He will say: do you know such-and-such a sin? Do you know such-and-such a sin? And the believer will say: yes, my Lord. At last he has acknowledged all his sins and thinks he is finished. Then Allah will say: I concealed them for you in the world, and I forgive them for you today. Then he is given the record of his good deeds.

Read that next to 55:41. The criminals are known by their marks, in front of everyone. The believer is brought close, under a covering, and his sins are named privately, between him and his Lord, and then forgiven.

So the God who sees everything is not the God who displays everything. He has been covering, all along. Every sin of yours that no one else knows about is known to Him and hidden by Him. That hiding is not His ignorance. It is His sitr, His screening, already in operation.

Which of the favours of your Lord will you deny? Perhaps the most intimate one: that the worst things you have done are, at this moment, covered by Him.

That favour is not a licence. It is an invitation. He is covering now so that you can repair privately what would be unbearable publicly.

Tonight, name one of those covered sins to Him, alone. Ask Him to keep covering it, and to forgive it.

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.