Al-Insan · Madani · ayah 30 of 31

Al-Insan 76:30

وَمَا تَشَآءُونَ إِلَّآ أَن يَشَآءَ ٱللَّهُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا

“And you do not will except that Allāh wills. Indeed, Allāh is ever Knowing and Wise.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Your willing is real, yet it moves only within His will, and His will is never blind: He is Knowing and Wise.

A reflection

Even your wanting is held

A man tells his friends he gave up smoking by willpower alone. No patches, no help: just a decision. Years later, clearing his late mother's things, he finds a small prayer notebook. His name is on every page, beside the words 'make it easy for him to stop'.

His will was real. It was not alone.

Wa mā tashāʾūna illā an yashāʾa Allāh: and you do not will, except that Allah wills. The ego keeps one last territory for itself, the inner room where I decide. The ayah walks into that room too. Even the wanting is held.

One commentator puts it bluntly. No one can guide himself, enter faith, or bring himself any benefit, unless Allah wills. Another says the matter is His, not yours. A third says no one's will takes effect, or comes first, unless His will has come first.

Someone may ask why Allah would claim even our desires. Does He need control of every corner? He needs nothing. And the ayah does not end on power alone. It ends: inna Allāha kāna ʿalīman ḥakīmā, truly Allah is ever Knowing, Wise. A tyrant's will is arbitrary and grasping. This will is described by knowledge and wisdom.

There is humility here, and relief. The person who thinks every good choice was purely his own grows proud of it, and is crushed by every failure. The person who knows his will moves within a greater Will can thank Him for the good, and run back to Him after the bad.

The man with the notebook did not stop believing in his willpower. He stopped believing it was the whole story.

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.