Surah Ar-Rahman 55:8
سُورَةُ الرَّحۡمَٰن · Medinan · Verse 8 of 78
أَلَّا تَطْغَوْا۟ فِى ٱلْمِيزَانِ
Translation
so that you may not exceed in the balance:
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'So that you do not transgress the Balance.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note how immediately the cosmic Balance becomes a personal command: the harmony God set in the heavens is mirrored by a harmony you are told not to violate. The order out there implies an order you must keep in here. Ask yourself: 'transgressing the balance' sounds abstract until I notice how much of wrongdoing is exactly that, taking more than my share, tipping a fair situation in my favour, letting one part of my life swell and crush the rest. This verse ties my small acts of imbalance to a disruption of something cosmic. Where in my dealings, my habits, my relationships am I quietly tipping a scale that was meant to stay level?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Ar-Rahman 55:8 is discussed in 5 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
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