Surah Ya-Sin 36:71
سُورَةُ يسٓ · Meccan · Verse 71 of 83
أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا۟ أَنَّا خَلَقْنَا لَهُم مِّمَّا عَمِلَتْ أَيْدِينَآ أَنْعَٰمًۭا فَهُمْ لَهَا مَٰلِكُونَ
Translation
Can they not see how, among the things made by Our hands, We have created livestock they control,
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Have they not seen that We created for them, from what Our hands made, livestock that they own?' al-Saadi and Ibn Ashur note the phrasing 'what Our hands made' and 'they own': the animals that sustain human life were fashioned and handed over into our ownership, a granted dominion, not a conquest we achieved. Ask yourself: I hold the things I 'own' with a tight sense of entitlement, I earned them, they're mine. This verse traces even the most basic ownership back to a gift placed in my hands. If what I possess was fashioned by Another and entrusted to me, then I am less an owner than a caretaker. Does that soften my grip on my possessions, and my sense of who they ultimately answer to?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Ya-Sin 36:71 is discussed in 9 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 36:71 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.