Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 65 of 165

Al-An'am 6:65

قُلْ هُوَ ٱلْقَادِرُ عَلَىٰٓ أَن يَبْعَثَ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابًا مِّن فَوْقِكُمْ أَوْ مِن تَحْتِ أَرْجُلِكُمْ أَوْ يَلْبِسَكُمْ شِيَعًا وَيُذِيقَ بَعْضَكُم بَأْسَ بَعْضٍ ۗ ٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ نُصَرِّفُ ٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَفْقَهُونَ

“Say, "He is the [one] Able to send upon you affliction from above you or from beneath your feet or to confuse you [so you become] sects[314] and make you taste the violence of one another." Look how We diversify the signs that they might understand.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The One who rescues can also send punishment from above, from below, or from within, by splitting a people into factions that hurt each other.

A reflection

Built to survive everything except itself

A new tower block opens by the river. The brochure is proud of it. The frame is built to ride out an earthquake. The roof is rated for the worst storm in a century. The basement has pumps for any flood. From above and from below, the residents are told, they are safe.

Five years later the cladding needs replacing, and the bill is split between the flats. The residents' association meets in the ground-floor lounge. By the third meeting, the top floors and the bottom floors no longer speak. Someone keys a car. The building is still standing perfectly. Life inside it has become miserable.

The ayah names three directions of danger. Punishment from above you, or from beneath your feet, or He confuses you into factions and makes you taste one another's violence. The engineers covered the first two. Nobody can engineer against the third.

The ayah follows straight on from rescue. The One who saved them from every distress, one commentary notes, is the One able to cast them into ruin. Another reads 'He is the Able' as exclusive: He, and no one else. A third paraphrases it: the One you already know to be able, perfect in power.

Here the ego is meant to shrink. Human pride trusts its walls and its pumps. It forgets that safety is held, not owned. The danger may come from the sky, the ground, or the neighbour on the floor above.

A fair objection follows. Does a God who threatens not sound insecure, like a ruler needing obedience? But a threat that comes before the harm is a warning, and a warning is a kindness. Allah gains nothing from their fear. The ayah ends by saying why it speaks at all: so that they may understand. A tyrant strikes without notice. This ayah gives notice, and leaves the door open.

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.