Al-Qiyamah · Makki · ayah 17 of 40

Al-Qiyamah 75:17

إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا جَمْعَهُۥ وَقُرْءَانَهُۥ

“Indeed, upon Us is its collection [in your heart] and [to make possible] its recitation.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The One who will gather your scattered bones promised to gather His words in His Messenger's chest: the keeping was always His.

A reflection

The same verb as the bones

Fourteen ayat earlier, this surah put a question to the sceptic. 'Does the human being think We will not gather his bones?' (75:3). The verb there is najmaʿa, We gather. Here the same root returns, from the same Speaker: 'Upon Us is its gathering', jamʿahu.

The root pictures scattered things drawn close, part to part, until they are one. Put the two ayat together and the surah makes an argument without announcing it. The One who will gather every scattered bone also undertakes to gather His words into one man's chest. Neither task strains Him. The sceptic doubted the first. The Messenger ﷺ was anxious about the second. Both are told the same thing: this is Ours.

That should humble anyone who carries the Quran. The person who has memorised all of it, and is quietly proud of his memory. The scholar whose recall impresses a room. The reciter whose voice draws a crowd. None of them gathered it. It was gathered in them. Even for the Messenger ﷺ, the narration says, it was gathered for him, in his chest.

A man in his forties competes in memory championships. He can recite thousands of digits in order, and audiences gasp. He jokes that he still cannot remember where he parked. Memory is not a possession. It is a loan with a return date nobody shows us.

Someone may object: why does Allah keep stressing what He can do? Isn't that a need to be acknowledged? Look at whom the words were spoken to. 'Upon Us' was said to a worried man straining to hold every word. It is not a bid for applause. It is relief, from the only One able to give it. A guarantee from someone who needs nothing from you is the safest kind there is.

So the ego's last claim goes. We do not keep the Quran. If it stays in us at all, it is because He keeps it there.

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.