'Abasa · Makki · ayah 12 of 42

'Abasa 80:12

فَمَن شَآءَ ذَكَرَهُۥ

“So whoever wills may remember it.[1857]”

Saheeh International

Essence

The reminder is offered, never forced: whoever wills will keep it in mind, and what we choose to remember slowly becomes who we are.

A reflection

What you keep in mind keeps you

Allah does not need anyone to remember the Quran. It was complete and honoured before a single person memorised a line, and it will stay so if everyone forgets. 'Whoever strives only strives for himself; Allah is free of need of all the worlds' (29:6). So when this ayah invites us to remember it, the invitation is for us.

The commentators explain dhakarahu in a few ways. One says it means to take its admonition to heart. Another says it means to keep it in memory, not forgetting it. A third reads the pronoun as referring to Allah Himself: whoever wills remembers Allah in all his affairs. The three are not rivals. To keep the Quran in mind is to keep its Speaker in mind.

Why is that for us? Because the mind is never empty. Something always fills it: a song, a worry, an argument, an advertising jingle. What occupies our minds most often quietly shapes our moods, our reactions and eventually our characters. We become what we rehearse.

Picture a woman who walks her dog for twenty minutes every morning. For years she listened to the radio. One autumn she decides to play a single surah instead, on repeat, until she knows it. It takes her two months to learn Al-Mulk. She expected to gain a surah. What she did not expect was what happened on a bad day at work. In the middle of a stressful meeting, a line came back to her unbidden. 'He created death and life to test which of you is best in deed' (67:2). The meeting shrank to its proper size.

That is what the Quran does when it is kept in mind. It is there in the moment you need it, not only in the moment you open it. 'Truly, in the remembrance of Allah hearts find rest' (13:28).

The modern world is full of people hungry for something steady to hold in their minds. Here is an offer with no subscription and no algorithm behind it. Whoever wills may take it. The only price is to choose it, again, each day.

The full entry has 4 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.