Al-Hashr · Madani · ayah 18 of 24

Al-Hashr 59:18

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَلْتَنظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَّا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ ۖ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ خَبِيرٌۢ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ

“O you who have believed, fear Allāh. And let every soul look to what it has put forth for tomorrow - and fear Allāh. Indeed, Allāh is Aware of what you do.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Tomorrow here is the Day of Judgement, named for its nearness; the look it asks for is at what you have already sent ahead.

A reflection

He knows what the thing is inside

The ayah closes with a name chosen with care: Khabīr, Aware. The root does not mean seeing the surface. It means knowing what a thing is inside, the way you only know a person after testing him. Not how it looks, but what it proves to be.

Picture a bridge inspector working along a steel span at dawn. The paint is fresh and the bridge looks perfect. He does not trust the look. He taps each rivet with a small hammer and listens. A sound rivet rings. A failing one answers dull. He is reading the inside of the bridge by what it gives back.

That is the kind of knowing the ayah attributes to Allah, and it humbles the ego at the exact point where it is most invested. Most of what we manage is surface: the reputation, the post, the impression made at the meeting. The self works hard on the paint. But the One before whom every deed will be weighed hears the rivets. He knows which good deeds ring and which were hollow, done for the audience.

The commentaries add that nothing of our deeds is hidden from Him, great or small. That could sound like a threat, and it is a warning. But it is also a relief. Pride exhausts itself keeping up appearances. Before One who already knows the inside, there is nothing left to perform. The only sensible response is to fix the rivets.

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.