Surah Ya-Sin 36:61
سُورَةُ يسٓ · Meccan · Verse 61 of 83
وَأَنِ ٱعْبُدُونِى ۚ هَٰذَا صِرَٰطٌۭ مُّسْتَقِيمٌۭ
Translation
but to serve Me? This is the straight path.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'And that you worship Me, this is a straight path.' al-Saadi and Ibn Ashur note the covenant's positive half: it was not only 'do not obey the enemy' but 'worship Me', and that worship is itself the straight path, the whole of guidance folded into one clause. The alternative to serving the enemy is not neutrality; it is serving the One. Ask yourself: I sometimes imagine the goal is simply to avoid the obvious wrongs and otherwise stay 'free'. This verse says the straight path is not an empty middle but an active devotion, worshipping Him is the road, not a detour from my freedom. Am I trying to be merely inoffensive, or actually to walk the path this verse names?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Ya-Sin 36:61 is discussed in 4 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Ya-Sin 36:61 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.