Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:65
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 65 of 96
لَوْ نَشَآءُ لَجَعَلْنَٰهُ حُطَٰمًۭا فَظَلْتُمْ تَفَكَّهُونَ
Translation
If We wished, We could turn your harvest into chaff and leave you to wail,
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'If We willed, We could make it broken debris, and you would be left exclaiming.' al-Saadi and Ibn Ashur note the fragility exposed: the standing crop, so near to harvest, could be reduced to worthless straw in an instant, leaving the farmer stunned and lamenting. Ask yourself: my confidence in my plans rests on the unspoken assumption that what I've grown will stay grown, that the effort banked will pay out. This verse pulls that assumption into the open: one withdrawal of His mercy, and the near-certain harvest is dust. It is not meant to make me anxious but honest, my security was never in my crop, my savings, my plans; it was always a mercy on loan. How differently would I hold my carefully-grown 'harvests' if I truly felt how easily they could become debris?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:65 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
Open Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:65 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.