Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 50 of 165

Al-An'am 6:50

قُل لَّآ أَقُولُ لَكُمْ عِندِى خَزَآئِنُ ٱللَّهِ وَلَآ أَعْلَمُ ٱلْغَيْبَ وَلَآ أَقُولُ لَكُمْ إِنِّى مَلَكٌ ۖ إِنْ أَتَّبِعُ إِلَّا مَا يُوحَىٰٓ إِلَىَّ ۚ قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِى ٱلْأَعْمَىٰ وَٱلْبَصِيرُ ۚ أَفَلَا تَتَفَكَّرُونَ

“Say, [O Muḥammad], "I do not tell you that I have the depositories [containing the provision] of Allāh or that I know the unseen, nor do I tell you that I am an angel. I only follow what is revealed to me." Say, "Is the blind equivalent to the seeing? Then will you not give thought?"”

Saheeh International

Essence

The Messenger is told to disown the treasuries, the unseen and the angels, and to claim only one thing: that he follows what is revealed.

A reflection

Not the keeper of the store-room

Begin with what the greatest of messengers is told to say about himself. Not a list of his powers, but three things he does not claim. The first is the largest: I do not say to you that I hold the treasuries of Allah.

The word khazāʾin carried a clear picture for its first hearers. A khizāna was a store-room where precious things sat beyond the reach of hands. One commentator defines storing as keeping a thing where hands cannot get at it. The commentaries read Allah's treasuries as His provision, and everything His power can bring about. The rain, the harvest, the opened door, the healed body: all of it is kept where no creature's hand reaches.

His people had asked him to open those stores. One commentary records that they wanted him to ask Allah for wide worldly comforts. Another lists their demands: turn the mountains to gold, send down signs on request. His answer was not embarrassment. It was the plain truth about who holds the keys.

Now set beside him a modern salesman of the treasuries. An online course promises to 'unlock your abundance vault' for a monthly fee. Its host leans on a hired sports car and speaks of wealth as something he can transfer. The best of creation would not claim that much. The man in the advert claims it before breakfast.

This is where our own ego shrinks. If the Messenger ﷺ, nearest of creatures to Allah, held no key to the store, then neither does my employer. Neither do my clients, my savings or my own cleverness. They are channels that provision passes through, not the room it is kept in.

And this majesty asks nothing of us for His sake. The treasuries are full whether we acknowledge them or not. He tells us whose they are so that we stop knocking at the wrong door.

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.