Al-Waqi'ah · Makki · ayah 72 of 96

Al-Waqi'ah 56:72

ءَأَنتُمْ أَنشَأْتُمْ شَجَرَتَهَآ أَمْ نَحْنُ ٱلْمُنشِـُٔونَ

“Is it you who produced its tree, or are We the producer?”

Saheeh International

Essence

Fire is given a parent, and the verb used of raising that parent is the one used for a cloud lifting and a child reared.

A reflection

Brought into being, then reared, stage by stage

A seed orchard is a strange place to stand. The trees in it were bred for timber that will be felled ninety years from now. Nobody working there will see the harvest. The whole operation is a long argument with time, run by people who will not be present for the conclusion.

The verb in this ayah is the verb for that kind of making. It is not the verb for creating.

The lexicons give the root as rising and coming up. Cloud that lifts into view. A child growing up, so that the young are called the nashʾ. A boy risen to a man's height is a nāshiʾ. And then the sense the ayah uses: bringing a thing into being and rearing it, state after state, by one hand.

One commentary notices the choice and explains it. The word speaks of a marvellous making that shows complete power and wisdom. It is used here because of the strangeness of this tree among all trees.

So the claim is not merely that He made the tree. It is that He brought it up, stage by stage, with the fire already inside it, and nobody watching.

That is a different scale of planning from anything a human being does, and the comparison is what shrinks the ego. We plant for ninety years and think ourselves far-sighted. This is a tree reared from nothing, carrying a capacity that will matter in a hundred thousand households. No span is given, and there is no shareholder to report to.

And there is no pride available anywhere in that sentence. You arrived after the tree. You were handed it, grown, with the fire in it.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.