'Abasa · Makki · ayah 32 of 42

'Abasa 80:32

مَّتَـٰعًا لَّكُمْ وَلِأَنْعَـٰمِكُمْ

“[As] enjoyment [i.e., provision] for you and your grazing livestock.”

Saheeh International

Essence

From grain to pasture, all of it is provision for you and your animals, handed over by its Giver and meant to last a while.

A reflection

Handed over by name

For eight ayat, the surah has spoken about the human being in the third person: let him look at his food. Now, at the end of the list, it turns and speaks directly: matāʿan lakum wa-li-anʿāmikum, 'provision for you, and for your livestock'.

One commentator names this turn and explains its purpose. The sudden shift to direct address, he says, completes the sense of favour. It is as if, after describing the whole feast, the Host now turns and places the plate in your hands.

Picture a school dinner lady who has worked in the same primary school for twenty years. She knows every child's name, and she says it as she hands each one a plate. 'There you go, Amir.' 'Extra carrots for you, Grace.' The food is the same for everyone. But no child in that school feels like a number at lunchtime. Being named turns a meal into care.

That is the effect of lakum, 'for you'. The rain, the split earth, the grain, the grapes, the olives, the palms, the gardens and the fruit were not produced for no one. They were made for you, and handed to you.

That should shrink the ego in a particular way. The ego likes to think it has earned its place at the table, or that the table owes it something. This ayah says the table was laid by Someone else, who turned and handed you your portion. You are a guest, not an owner.

And He did not forget the animals. One commentator records that anʿām first meant camels, then came to cover every grazing animal. Another early voice says of the pasture: blessings from Allah, one after another. Even the creatures who cannot say thank you are named in the gift.

Someone might ask why Allah needs to say 'for you'. He does not need to. He chooses to, so that we feel the personal care in what we too easily take as impersonal: the supermarket, the harvest, the weather. None of it is impersonal. All of it is handed over by name.

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.