Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 87 of 165

Al-An'am 6:87

وَمِنْ ءَابَآئِهِمْ وَذُرِّيَّـٰتِهِمْ وَإِخْوَٰنِهِمْ ۖ وَٱجْتَبَيْنَـٰهُمْ وَهَدَيْنَـٰهُمْ إِلَىٰ صِرَٰطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ

“And [some] among their fathers and their descendants and their brothers - and We chose them and We guided them to a straight path.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Guidance ran up, down and sideways through these families, to some fathers, some children and some brothers, and every time it was Allah's choosing.

A reflection

The chosen whose names we were never told

Eighteen prophets have just been named. Then the ayah widens the frame: and some of their fathers, their offspring and their brothers. One classical commentary explains that these are others besides the named ones, whom Allah did not name. He chose them too, and guided them.

Think how many people that sentence holds. Fathers across many centuries, children and grandchildren, brothers and their households. Not one name is given. Yet each was known individually to the One who says, 'We chose them'.

A famous novel is translated into English and sells a million copies. Readers quote its sentences at weddings and on gravestones. Every one of those sentences was chosen by the translator, word by word, over years. Her name is in small type inside, on a page almost no one reads. The author's name fills the cover.

We live in an age of credits and bylines. The ego wants its name on the cover, or at least on the page people read. It finds it hard to believe that unnamed work is truly seen. So it posts, reminds, hints and waits for thanks. Much of our tiredness is the labour of being noticed.

This ayah shrinks that need with majesty. The One who chooses does not need a list to remember. He keeps no register for fear of forgetting, and needs no witnesses to confirm whom He has drawn near. His knowledge holds the unnamed as fully as the named.

Is it vanity for Allah to say 'We chose' and 'We guided'? Vanity seeks recognition it lacks. He lacks nothing. The words are for us: so that we stop looking to people for a verdict only He can give.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.