Ar-Rahman · Madani · ayah 49 of 78

Ar-Rahman 55:49

فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

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

Saheeh International

Essence

After the branching gardens the refrain asks which favour you deny, and one of them is that you can plant those branches now.

A reflection

The gardens are being planted now

Most people think of the gardens in this passage as entirely future. Something waiting at the far end of life, finished and fixed, that you either reach or do not. Nothing to be done about it now except to be good in general and hope.

The Prophet ﷺ described them differently, as land waiting to be planted.

Al-Tirmidhi records him saying: whoever says subḥān Allāh al-ʿAẓīm wa bi-ḥamdih, a palm tree is planted for him in the Garden. The words mean: glory be to Allah the Magnificent, and with His praise. Al-Tirmidhi grades it himself: ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ gharīb.

And he records another narration in which the Prophet ﷺ, on the night of his ascension, met Ibrahim. Ibrahim said: give your community my greeting, and tell them that the Garden has good soil and sweet water. It is level, open plains. Its plants are: glory be to Allah, praise be to Allah, there is no god but Allah, and Allah is greatest. That narration is graded ḥasan, though another grading considers it weaker.

Put those beside this refrain, which follows "possessing branches". The branches are not only promised. They are being planted, phrase by phrase, by people who are still alive.

That changes the shape of an ordinary day. A walk to the bus becomes a time of planting. A queue at the checkout. The last minutes before sleep. Every "glory be to Allah" is a seedling set into soil you will one day walk on.

Which of the favours of your Lord will you deny? Perhaps this one: that you were given the seeds, and the soil, and the words, and the time to plant.

Say it now, once, slowly. Subḥān Allāh al-ʿAẓīm wa bi-ḥamdih. Something has just been planted.

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.