Al-Bayyinah · Madani · ayah 5 of 8

Al-Bayyinah 98:5

وَمَآ أُمِرُوٓا۟ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ ٱلدِّينَ حُنَفَآءَ وَيُقِيمُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَيُؤْتُوا۟ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ دِينُ ٱلْقَيِّمَةِ

“And they were not commanded except to worship Allāh, [being] sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth, and to establish prayer and to give zakāh. And that is the correct religion.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Every prophet carried the same short message: turn to Allah alone with a heart cleared of every other motive, stand in prayer, and give.

A reflection

Like a mother at the vaccination clinic

A mother holds her toddler on her lap at the clinic. The nurse lifts the needle. The child cries, twists, looks at her mother in betrayal. The mother holds her gently and firmly until it is done. She does not want the pain. She wants what the pain protects.

One classical commentator uses almost exactly this picture for this ayah. He notices that the verb is passive: umirū, 'they were commanded', without naming who commanded. It is as if Allah were saying: worship can be hard, and your hardship is not what I want for its own sake. My wanting your worship is like a mother wanting her child's treatment. When the Quran speaks of mercy, it names Him directly: 'your Lord has written mercy upon Himself' (6:54).

The same commentator adds a second reflection. Allah has not asked for everything we have, he says. He gave us part of what He could give, and He asks part of ours: half a coin in twenty, one sheep in forty. But what He gave, He gave wanting nothing but our good. So He asks that what we give be for Him alone.

And He gains nothing from it. 'I do not want any provision from them' (51:57). A hadith qudsi in Sahih Muslim has Allah say: I am the One most free of need of any partner. Whoever does a deed in which he associates another with Me, I leave him to his partner.

So who is the worship for? Look at what the world offers instead. Live for yourself, it says. Build your brand, optimise your body, curate your feed. Many people who follow that advice find themselves more anxious and more alone than when they started. They pay for apps to help them sit still. The self turns out to be a poor thing to worship. It is never satisfied, and it is never enough.

The ayah offers the opposite: a heart turned to One who does not need it, and who, precisely for that reason, can be trusted with it. 'In the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest' (13:28). The needle is His mercy. The protection is ours.

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.