Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:23
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 23 of 96
كَأَمْثَٰلِ ٱللُّؤْلُؤِ ٱلْمَكْنُونِ
Translation
like hidden pearls:
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Like well-protected pearls.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the image 'ka-amthal al-lu'lu' al-maknun', pearls kept safe and hidden, untouched by any hand, their lustre unspoiled by exposure. The comparison is to guarded purity, beauty preserved rather than displayed and worn. Ask yourself: this world equates value with exposure, the more seen, the more prized. The pearl's worth here is tied to its being hidden, kept, unhandled. It quietly honours what is guarded and modest over what is flaunted. It presses me to reconsider my instinct to put everything precious on display: some treasures, a relationship, an inner life, a devotion, keep their lustre precisely by being sheltered rather than paraded. What of value in my life am I exposing that would be better protected, like a pearl still in its shell?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:23 is discussed in 6 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:23 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.