Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 38 of 165

Al-An'am 6:38

وَمَا مِن دَآبَّةٍ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَا طَـٰٓئِرٍ يَطِيرُ بِجَنَاحَيْهِ إِلَّآ أُمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُم ۚ مَّا فَرَّطْنَا فِى ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ مِن شَىْءٍ ۚ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يُحْشَرُونَ

“And there is no creature on [or within] the earth or bird that flies with its wings except [that they are] communities like you. We have not neglected in the Register[302] a thing. Then unto their Lord they will be gathered.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Every creeping thing and bird is a community like yours, kept in a Register that misses nothing and gathered back to its Lord.

A reflection

The night the garden camera was switched on

A man in a terraced house fixes a small motion camera to his garden fence, mostly to catch whoever tips his bins. He reviews the first week's footage on Sunday morning. Two foxes, every night, at ten past one. A hedgehog that crosses the lawn like a commuter. Moths in their hundreds. A blackbird that bathes in the same dish at dawn. A cat from three doors down. He had thought his garden was empty after dark.

The ayah opens that camera on the whole earth. There is no creature that creeps on the earth, nor a bird flying with its two wings. Each is a community like you. The word for creature, dābba, is anything that moves on the ground with small, soft steps. The lexicons picture an ant crossing the ground, or an old man easing along on his staff. Nothing is too small to be counted in that word.

This is a quiet blow to a very human ego. We assume we are the main story, and everything else is scenery. The ayah says we are one community among countless others. Each is known by name, fed, and kept. One commentary draws out the point. Allah is guarding what belongs to each of these teeming kinds, overseeing their states, and one affair does not distract Him from another.

Someone may ask why God tells us He keeps track of every insect. Is it a boast? He gains nothing from our knowing it. The telling is for the one who thinks he is unnoticed, or the one who thinks he is the centre. To the first it says: you are seen. To the second it says: so is the hedgehog.

Humility here is not feeling worthless. It is finally seeing the size of the garden you live in, and the One who tends all of 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.