Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 57 of 165

Al-An'am 6:57

قُلْ إِنِّى عَلَىٰ بَيِّنَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّى وَكَذَّبْتُم بِهِۦ ۚ مَا عِندِى مَا تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ بِهِۦٓ ۚ إِنِ ٱلْحُكْمُ إِلَّا لِلَّهِ ۖ يَقُصُّ ٱلْحَقَّ ۖ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ ٱلْفَـٰصِلِينَ

“Say, "Indeed, I am on clear evidence from my Lord, and you have denied it. I do not have that for which you are impatient.[311] The decision is only for Allāh. He relates the truth, and He is the best of deciders."”

Saheeh International

Essence

He stands on clear evidence and cannot hurry their dare; the verdict rests with the One who tells truth and divides it cleanly.

A reflection

The Judge with nothing to gain

Ini l-ḥukmu illā lillāh: judgement belongs to none but Allah. The sentence is built as a denial followed by an exception. Nothing, except Him. Then it closes on a title: khayru l-fāṣilīn, the best of those who decide between.

Why the best? One early commentary answers with striking concreteness. No one sways His ruling through a connection, a kinship or a family tie. He takes no bribe, so His verdict never bends. That is the whole list of what corrupts human judges, and He is free of all of it. A judge is only as clean as his needs are few, and Allah needs nothing.

Now turn the sentence on yourself. Picture a commuter on a delayed train. Without a word, she passes verdicts on the carriage. The man eating crisps loudly is selfish. The mother whose toddler kicks the seat has lost control. The student on the phone has no manners. She has appointed herself judge of people she met four minutes ago.

This is the ego's quiet habit. We sit on a small bench inside our heads and rule all day, on colleagues, relatives and strangers in a queue. We are rarely neutral and almost never fully informed. The ayah moves the bench. Final judgement belongs elsewhere, to the One with no stake and no blind spot. That is humbling, and it is also a relief. You were never qualified for the job.

A sceptic may hear arrogance in the claim. Why must a God reserve judgement to Himself? Is this rank being guarded? Look at the wording. It does not call Him the strongest of judges, but the best. Human rulers seize the bench to protect themselves. He needs no protecting, gains nothing from any verdict, and is not made greater by our praise. That is exactly why His judgement can be trusted.

What shrinks here is not your dignity. It is your pride's claim to a gavel.

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.