Al-Baqarah 2:156
The Cow · Medinan · Juz 2 · Page 24
Surrender
ٱلَّذِينَ إِذَآ أَصَٰبَتۡهُم مُّصِيبَةࣱ قَالُوٓاْ إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّآ إِلَيۡهِ رَٰجِعُونَ ١٥٦
Who say, when a misfortune striketh them: Lo! we are Allah’s and lo! unto Him we are returning.
Translation: Marmaduke Pickthall
Meaning
When the patient are struck by a calamity, they say: ‘We belong to Allah, and to Him we return.’
Insight
Elmalılı explains two sides of this saying. ‘We belong to Allah’ is accepting that everything is His and being content with His decree. ‘To Him we return’ is believing that the end is not nothingness but reunion with Allah.
Reflect
What does this sentence stir in you when you think of it on an ordinary day, not in a moment of loss?
This short note is based on Elmalılı Hamdi Yazır’s Turkish commentary and has not yet been reviewed by a scholar.
Elmalılı’s commentary
An English translation of Elmalılı’s full commentary is coming soon. Read the original Turkish ›