Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:69
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 69 of 96
ءَأَنتُمْ أَنزَلْتُمُوهُ مِنَ ٱلْمُزْنِ أَمْ نَحْنُ ٱلْمُنزِلُونَ
Translation
was it you who brought it down from the rain-cloud or We?
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Is it you who sent it down from the clouds, or are We the Sender?' al-Saadi and Ibn Ashur note the plain question that ends the illusion of self-supply: the entire cycle, the clouds, the rain, the fresh water filling the springs, is His doing, not mine, from beginning to end. Ask yourself: for all my technology, I cannot make it rain; I can only receive what falls. The whole system that delivers the water in my glass, evaporation, cloud, rainfall, aquifer, runs without my involvement, a gift arriving at my tap from a source entirely outside my control. This verse strips away the modern illusion that I have 'sorted out' my own provision. I have merely built pipes to catch a mercy I did not send and cannot command. Does seeing the rain as sent change how I receive it?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:69 is discussed in 8 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 56:69 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.