Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 165 of 165

Al-An'am 6:165

وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَكُمْ خَلَـٰٓئِفَ ٱلْأَرْضِ وَرَفَعَ بَعْضَكُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَـٰتٍ لِّيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِى مَآ ءَاتَىٰكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ سَرِيعُ ٱلْعِقَابِ وَإِنَّهُۥ لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌۢ

“And it is He who has made you successors upon the earth and has raised some of you above others in degrees [of rank] that He may try you through what He has given you. Indeed, your Lord is swift in penalty; but indeed, He is Forgiving and Merciful.”

Saheeh International

Essence

You are new growth where others once stood, ranked and tested in what you were given, by a Lord swift to account and deeply merciful.

A reflection

The award that changed his voice

A salesman wins the regional award. There is a dinner, a trophy and a photograph with the managing director. Within a month he has stopped answering his old teammates' messages. His voice has changed in meetings. He has started to believe that the step he is standing on is a measure of what he is.

The ayah speaks of exactly those steps. 'He raised some of you above others in degrees'. The word darajāt pictures the stairs of a building, one tier above another: rank reached like steps on a staircase. The commentaries list what the stairs are made of. Provision, strength, standing, knowledge, beauty, character.

Then comes the reason, and it is a blow to the ego: 'so that He may test you in what He has given you'. One classical commentator is blunt about what the ranking is not. It is not because of any inability in Allah, nor ignorance, nor stinginess. It is a test. The step you stand on was placed there by Someone else, for a purpose that is not your glory.

Someone may ask why God announces that He arranged our ranks. Is it to remind us who is in charge? He needs no reminder of His power, and our recognition adds nothing to Him. The reminder is for us. Pride is forgetting who built the staircase. The one who remembers can climb without despising those below, and slip without despair.

The salesman's award is real, and so is his talent. But the stair he stands on is lent. The ayah's question is not how high he has risen. It is what he will do on that step, and how he will treat the people one step down.

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.