Al-Muddaththir · Makki · ayah 6 of 56

Al-Muddaththir 74:6

وَلَا تَمْنُن تَسْتَكْثِرُ

“And do not confer favor to acquire more[1790]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Give, serve, or carry a message, but never while quietly counting what should come back to you for it.

A reflection

The favour that cuts itself

This root carries two senses at once, cutting and giving, and the overlap is not an accident of vocabulary. A rope worn thin until it snaps is described with the same letters as a weighty favour given to someone. Death itself is called al-manun in old Arabic, because it cuts every span of life short. The lexicons hold both senses together because a minna, a favour heavy enough to be held over someone, behaves exactly like that worn rope: it can carry weight for a while, and then the reminder of it is what finally cuts it through.

That is the picture behind this ayah's prohibition. Manna is not simply giving; it is giving in a way that keeps a hand on what was given, ready to pull it back into view later as a claim on the receiver. La tamnun tastakthir, do not give seeking more in return, asks for a kind of giving that lets go completely once it has left your hand, the way the word's own sibling sense, ghayru mamnun, pictures a reward that is never cut off, never brought back up, never counted against the one receiving it.

There is something quietly severe in a language that uses one root for both the gift and its own potential undoing. It is as if Arabic itself is warning that a favour spoken of too often stops being a favour at all, and becomes instead the very thing that finally severs the bond it was meant to build.

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.