Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 102 of 165

Al-An'am 6:102

ذَٰلِكُمُ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ ۖ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ خَـٰلِقُ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ فَٱعْبُدُوهُ ۚ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ وَكِيلٌ

“That is Allāh, your Lord; there is no deity except Him, the Creator of all things, so worship Him. And He is Disposer of all things.”

Saheeh International

Essence

After every argument, the conclusion: this is your Lord, the Maker of everything, so worship Him, and hand Him every affair you carry.

A reflection

Who made the tree?

A furniture maker brands his initials into the underside of every table he builds. He is proud of them, and rightly; the joints are perfect. One evening his granddaughter, turning a chair upside down, asks him a question. 'You made the table. Who made the tree?'

The ayah answers with three words: khāliqu kulli shayʾ, Creator of everything. The root pictures a leatherworker measuring a hide before a single cut. This much for a water-skin, this much for a boot. Creation, in this language, is measuring and then making. Everything you have ever made began with something you were given already measured: the wood, the hand, the eye, the morning you worked in.

One classical commentator notes a detail. A verse earlier, the Quran said 'He created everything' (6:101), using the past tense. Here it uses the participle, 'Creator of everything', which covers all times. He did not make the world once and step back. He is making it now, including the hand that brands the initials.

That is the quiet blow to the ego. We are skilled, and our skill is real. But pride forgets the tree. It signs the table as if the forest were its own.

Someone may ask why God announces this, and then commands worship. Is He asking for credit? He needs nothing; He is free of all need (35:15). The great early commentator puts the logic simply. It is fitting that what is made should single out its Maker. The command is not a demand from a needy God. It is the truth about the table, said out loud.

The humble craftsman keeps branding his initials. He just knows, now, whose name goes first.

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.