Tafseer of The Beneficent · Ar-Rahmaan · 55:29
Whoever is within the heavens and earth asks Him; every day He is bringing about a matter.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
And His word Whoever is in the heavens and on the earth asks of Him (55:29) — the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: To Him does everyone who is in the heavens and on the earth resort with the request to provide for their needs — angel, human, jinn, and others — none of them can do without Him.
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word Whoever is in the heavens and on the earth asks of Him; every day He is engaged in some affair (55:29): neither the inhabitants of heaven nor the inhabitants of the earth can do without Him. He makes a living one live, and causes a dead one to die, and raises up a small one, and abases a great one; and He is the One to whom the needs of the righteous are addressed, the goal of their complaint, and the recourse of the best of them.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word Whoever is in the heavens and on the earth asks of Him; every day He is engaged in some affair (55:29), he said: that means the asking of His servants of Him for provision, death, and life; every day He is engaged in that.
And His word every day He is engaged in some affair (55:29) — the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: He is every day engaged in some affair of His creation: He relieves the distress of a distressed one, and exalts a people, and abases others, and other affairs of His creatures besides these.
And in the manner of what we have said concerning that, the people of exegesis have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Yūnus ibn Khabbāb and al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, every day He is engaged in some affair, he said: He answers a supplicant, and gives to an asker, or frees a captive, or cures a sick one.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, concerning His word every day He is engaged in some affair, he said: He frees a captive, and cures a sick one, and answers a supplicant.
And Ismāʿīl ibn Isrāʾīl al-Lāl related to me, saying: Ayyūb ibn Suwayd related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word every day He is engaged in some affair, he said: Among His affairs is that He gives to an asker, and frees a captive, and answers a supplicant, and cures a sick one.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word every day He is engaged in some affair, he said: every day He answers a supplicant, and relieves a distress, and answers one in despair, and forgives a sin.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, every day He is engaged in some affair: He answers a supplicant, and gives to an asker, and frees a captive, and accepts the repentance of a people, and forgives.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Marwān related to us, saying: Abū al-ʿAwwām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, Whoever is in the heavens and on the earth asks of Him; every day He is engaged in some affair, he said: He creates a creature, and causes a dead one to die, and brings an affair to pass.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr al-Ghazzī related to me, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Firyābī related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Bakr al-Saksakī related to us, saying: al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbda ibn Rabāḥ al-Ghassānī related to us, on the authority of his father ʿAbda ibn Rabāḥ, on the authority of Munīb ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Azdī, on the authority of his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited this verse every day He is engaged in some affair, and we said: O Messenger of Allah, and what is that affair? He said: "He forgives a sin, and relieves a distress, and raises up peoples, and brings others low."
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥamza al-Thumālī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: Verily, Allah created a well-preserved tablet (lawḥ maḥfūẓ) from a white pearl, whose two sides are of red ruby, whose pen is light and whose script is light; its breadth is what is between the heaven and the earth. He looks into it every day three hundred and sixty glances; with each glance He creates, and gives life, and causes death, and glorifies, and abases, and does what He wills.
