Al-Layl · Makki · ayah 19 of 21

Al-Layl 92:19

وَمَا لِأَحَدٍ عِندَهُۥ مِن نِّعْمَةٍ تُجْزَىٰٓ

“And not [giving] for anyone who has [done him] a favor to be rewarded[1939] –”

Saheeh International

Essence

He gives to people who never did him a favour, so no one can call it repayment: a gift with no invoice behind it.

A reflection

They said he must have owed Bilāl something

A retired builder reads in the local paper about a stranger. She is a young widow with three children, and she owes the hospital for her late husband's treatment. He pays it in full. Within a week, people in the town are asking what the connection was. Was he an old flame? Did her husband once do him a favour? Nobody can believe he simply paid.

The commentaries record that Abū Bakr's generosity met exactly the same cynicism. When he bought Bilāl and set him free, the idol-worshippers of Makkah had an explanation ready. He only did that, they said, because of some favour Bilāl had once done him. Several commentators say this ayah answered them. 'And no one has with him any favour to be repaid'.

The early reports agree on the point even where they differ on details. One says he paid a measure of gold. Another says he traded a slave of his own, a wealthy man who had refused Islam. Either way, Bilāl had never done Abū Bakr any favour. He was a slave who had been tortured on the sand. There was nothing to repay.

The Companions understood what had happened. ʿUmar used to say: 'Abū Bakr is our master, and he freed our master', meaning Bilāl (Sahih al-Bukhari). The man the town had treated as property became, in the community's words, a master. The man who freed him owed him nothing and gained nothing, except what he was seeking from Allah.

People have not changed much. A gift without a visible reason still makes onlookers uneasy, because most of our own gifts have one. That unease is a kind of compliment. If people cannot find the favour behind your giving, you may be close to the giving this ayah describes.

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.