Ar-Rahman · Madani · ayah 67 of 78

Ar-Rahman 55:67

فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

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

Saheeh International

Essence

After springs that gush and never stop, the question reaches the most ordinary favour there is: a glass of water, and its Sender.

A reflection

Five hundred millilitres a day

Most of us think water is too ordinary to count as a favour. It comes out of a tap. You only notice it when the bill arrives or the pipes freeze.

A man on dialysis is told his fluid allowance is now five hundred millilitres a day. Everything counts: tea, soup, the water he swallows a tablet with. He buys a small measuring jug and keeps it by the kettle. By the second week he is sucking ice chips slowly to make them last. He dreams about drinking from a garden hose.

He will tell you that water was never ordinary. He just had not been paying attention.

The ayah before this refrain describes springs that gush and, one early authority says, never cease. The refrain asks which of your Lord's favours you would deny. For the man with the jug, the answer is obvious. For the rest of us, it is hiding in the kitchen tap.

The Prophet ﷺ placed this very favour near the top of the questioning on the Last Day. He said the first of the blessings a servant will be asked about is this. Did We not give you a healthy body, and quench your thirst with cold water? Al-Tirmidhi records it, calling it gharīb; it is graded ṣaḥīḥ.

And he showed the answer that pleases Allah. Allah is pleased with a servant who eats a meal and praises Him for it, or drinks a drink and praises Him for it. Muslim records it.

That is the refrain answered at the smallest scale. Not a grand confession of faith. A sip, and a word of praise after it.

The man with the measuring jug says al-hamdu lillah after every one of his allotted cups now. He says it means more than it used to. Most of us could start saying it without waiting for the jug.

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.