Al-Waqi'ah · Makki · ayah 33 of 96

Al-Waqi'ah 56:33

لَّا مَقْطُوعَةٍ وَلَا مَمْنُوعَةٍ

“Neither limited [to season] nor forbidden,”

Saheeh International

Essence

Two words remove the two things that spoil every good thing here: the season that ends it, and the price that keeps you from it.

A reflection

Why nothing there is ever held back

One commentary asks a question most readers never think to ask. Why would fruit ever be withheld from anyone?

Its answer is uncomfortable. In this world fruit is held back for one reason: the owner needs the price. He has a rent to pay, a wage to find, a winter to get through. So he fences the orchard and sets a figure at the gate. The withholding is not cruelty. It is need.

Then the commentary turns it round. In that garden the Owner is Allah, and He has no need at all. So there is nothing for a price to answer, and no reason on earth to shut the gate. Picture a man with more fruit than he can count, who does not eat and does not sell, and needs nothing from anybody. He would not keep a single piece back.

Sit with that for a moment, because it says something about every closed door you have met. Human generosity runs out because humans run out. His does not run out, because He never started from a lack.

And now the ego's question, which deserves an honest answer. Does God describe His own bounty because He wants to be admired? He is free of all need (35:15). He tells us plainly that He created us to worship Him, not to be fed by us (51:56-57). A proud man advertises what he does not securely have. Allah states what is simply true.

Our own pride works the other way. We give in order to be seen giving, and withhold to stay important. The one who has grasped who owns the orchard stops performing. There is relief in being small in front of someone that generous.

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.