Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 136 of 165

Al-An'am 6:136

وَجَعَلُوا۟ لِلَّهِ مِمَّا ذَرَأَ مِنَ ٱلْحَرْثِ وَٱلْأَنْعَـٰمِ نَصِيبًا فَقَالُوا۟ هَـٰذَا لِلَّهِ بِزَعْمِهِمْ وَهَـٰذَا لِشُرَكَآئِنَا ۖ فَمَا كَانَ لِشُرَكَآئِهِمْ فَلَا يَصِلُ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ ۖ وَمَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ فَهُوَ يَصِلُ إِلَىٰ شُرَكَآئِهِمْ ۗ سَآءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ

“And they [i.e., the polytheists] assign to Allāh from that which He created of crops and livestock a share and say, "This is for Allāh," by their claim, "and this is for our 'partners' [associated with Him]." But what is for their "partners" does not reach Allāh, while what is for Allāh - this reaches their "partners." Evil is that which they rule.”

Saheeh International

Essence

They gave Allah a share of a harvest He grew, then let every stray handful drift one way, towards their idols.

A reflection

A punnet of the farmer's own strawberries

A boy spends a summer morning at a pick-your-own farm. At the gate on the way out, he proudly hands the farmer a punnet. 'This one's for you,' he says. The farmer smiles. Every berry in it grew in his own field, on his own plants, watered from his own well.

The ayah opens with a phrase that is easy to pass over. They set aside for Allah a share mimmā dharaʾa, of what He scattered and brought up. The lexicons give this root a field picture. A sower walks bare ground casting seed by hand. Weeks later a green haze rises where nothing stood. The same root names Allah bringing creation out into plain sight.

So before the ayah describes the unfair division, it has already settled who owns the field. The crops and the herds were His before anyone drew a line through them. One classical commentator draws the point out. Since He grew it and made it thrive, the thriving portion was His by right. It should never have been handed to idols that grow nothing.

This is where the ego has to shrink. Pride loves the language of giving. I gave this. I donated that. I set aside a portion for God. The ayah does not mock giving. It exposes the posture of a donor who forgets whose field he is standing in.

The boy at the gate is charming because he is a child. A grown man doing the same, and waiting to be thanked, would be faintly absurd. Yet that is how vanity talks about its charity. As if Allah were the receiver of our generosity, rather than the One whose generosity we are passing along.

The cure is not to stop giving. It is to give the way a steward hands back what was lent. Quietly, without a speech at the gate, and grateful to have been trusted with the field at all.

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.