Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:70
سُورَةُ الوَاقِعَةِ · Meccan · Verse 70 of 96
لَوْ نَشَآءُ جَعَلْنَٰهُ أُجَاجًۭا فَلَوْلَا تَشْكُرُونَ
Translation
If We wanted, We could make it bitter: will you not be thankful?
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'If We willed, We could make it bitter salt, so why are you not grateful?' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the razor-thin mercy: the very same water, by one adjustment, could be undrinkable brine, and the fact that it is sweet enough to sustain me is a deliberate, ongoing kindness, sealed with the direct question, 'why not thank?' Ask yourself: I never thank God that my water is drinkable, because I cannot imagine it otherwise, yet the oceans are full of water I cannot drink. The line between the sweet water that keeps me alive and the salt that would kill me is held by Him alone. This verse asks the simplest, most searching thing: given that the drinkability of water is a daily mercy, 'falawla tashkurun', why not thank? What overlooked, life-sustaining ordinariness have I never once said 'thank You' for?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:70 is discussed in 7 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 56:70 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.