Ad-Duhaa · Makki · ayah 6 of 11

Ad-Duhaa 93:6

أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَـَٔاوَىٰ

“Did He not find you an orphan and give [you] refuge?”

Saheeh International

Essence

Before you had words for loneliness, you were found, gathered in and brought home.

A reflection

The hinge of two surahs

It is easy to read a-lam yajidka yatīman fa-āwā as a biographical footnote. He was an orphan; Allah looked after him. A fact about the Prophet's ﷺ childhood.

Look at what it does in the surah. Two oaths, then two denials: not left, not hated. Two promises: what comes after is better, and you will be given until content. Then this turn to the past: did He not find you an orphan, and shelter you? Astray, and guide you? In want, and enrich you? Three gifts, each a verb whose object is left unsaid. And after them, three commands, one for each: the orphan, the one who asks, the blessing.

One classical commentator explains why the past is called in here. Allah listed His favours from the very start of his upbringing, he says. The aim was that the Prophet ﷺ would measure what he hoped for by what had already happened. Then he would expect only good, his chest would not tighten, and his patience would not shrink.

His chest would not tighten. The very next surah opens: did We not open your chest? The same question form, a-lam, carries straight across the page. A few early figures, the commentaries record, even recited the two as one surah.

Think of a ship's navigator in fog using dead reckoning. She cannot see the coast. But she knows exactly where the ship has been, and at what speed, and so she knows where it is now.

That is the logic of this ayah. You cannot see what is ahead. You can see where you have been brought from.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.