At-Takwir · Makki · ayah 5 of 29

At-Takwir 81:5

وَإِذَا ٱلْوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتْ

“And when the wild beasts are gathered”

Saheeh International

Essence

The wild creatures that spend their lives keeping away from us will be gathered by their Lord, every one, and no wrong among them lost.

A reflection

The otter that never came

A wildlife photographer spends nine days in a cramped hide beside a Highland river. She has the best lens money can buy and years of fieldcraft. She wants one picture of an otter. On the tenth morning she packs up without it. The animal simply did not come.

Humans have learned to split atoms and map the ocean floor. We still cannot make a single wild creature come when called. That is what waḥsh means. The lexicons define it as everything that is not ins, not at ease with people. They mean the wild ass and the wild cattle that never take to us. The same root gives waḥsha, the unease of an empty place.

Now hear the verb: ḥushirat. The first hearers knew ḥashr from the desert. A hard drought year was said to ḥashara a tribe: it swept every herd and household in from the open land. One poet said of such a year that neither wild beast nor man escaped its gathering. The ayah widens that picture until it holds all creation. The creatures that spend their lives fleeing us are rounded up with nowhere left to run. One early authority said even the flies will be gathered.

There is a species-sized pride in us. We call ourselves the masters of the planet and speak of 'managing' nature. We cannot gather one otter. On that Day every wild thing on earth, in every forest and ocean, comes when it is called, and not by us.

Does this mean God is showing off His reach? The Quran explains why He gathers them, and it is not display. 'There is no creature on earth, and no bird flying on its wings, but they are communities like you'. Then, 'to their Lord they will be gathered' (6:38). He gathers them because they matter to Him. A Lord who provides for every creature on earth (11:6) does not need our applause. He is showing us how wide His care is, so that we stop thinking we are the only ones He sees.

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.