Al-Layl · Makki · ayah 8 of 21

Al-Layl 92:8

وَأَمَّا مَنۢ بَخِلَ وَٱسْتَغْنَىٰ

“But as for he who withholds and considers himself free of need”

Saheeh International

Essence

The second road begins with a closing hand and a heart that tells itself a lie: that it needs no one, not even its Lord.

A reflection

Independent for the blink of an eye?

A man of eighty built three companies in his life and has never asked anyone for anything. One January morning his neighbour sees him carrying shopping up icy front steps and offers a hand. He waves it away. Halfway up, he slips, and spends the rest of the winter in a hospital bed.

The first road had 'gave' and 'guarded himself'. The second has 'withheld' and istaghnā: he considered himself free of need. One classical scholar asked why the ayah sets 'guarding' against 'needing no one', which seem unrelated. His answer is one of the most penetrating things written on this surah.

The person of taqwa, he said, guards himself because he feels his own poverty. He senses how badly he needs his Lord, and so he is careful not to bring on His displeasure. Anyone who desperately needs someone avoids angering him. The one who drops taqwa acts as though he does not need his Lord at all. Then the scholar asks the question at the heart of it. Can a servant be independent of his Lord for the blink of an eye?

That is the ego's favourite story: I am self-made, I owe nobody, I can manage. It is never true, only rehearsed. Every breath is borrowed, and every heartbeat is kept going by Another. The man on the steps did not lose his independence when he slipped. He lost the illusion of it.

'O people, you are the ones in need of Allah, and Allah is the Free of need, the Praised' (35:15). Pride bristles at that sentence. Humility finds it a relief. You do not have to be the one who never needs. You only have to admit whose hand you are already holding.

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.