Surah Al-Mulk 67:21 — Meaning, Translation & Reflection

أَمَّنْ هَٰذَا ٱلَّذِى يَرْزُقُكُمْ إِنْ أَمْسَكَ رِزْقَهُۥ ۚ بَل لَّجُّوا۟ فِى عُتُوٍّۢ وَنُفُورٍ

English: Who can provide for you if He withholds His provision? Yet they persist in their insolence and their avoidance of the Truth.

Bengali: তিনি যদি রিযিক বন্ধ করে দেন, তবে কে আছে, যে তোমাদেরকে রিযিক দিবে বরং তারা অবাধ্যতা ও বিমুখতায় ডুবে রয়েছে।

Meaning & Reflection

'Or who is it that would provide for you if He withholds His provision?' The Surah presses the same point from a gentler angle: not just protection, but sustenance. al-Saadi and Ibn Kathir note the rain, the crops, the daily bread are not our property but His ongoing gift — and the whole system waits on His permission to continue. 'Rather, they persist in arrogance and aversion.' Ask yourself: I speak of my income as something I 'make', as if the provision ran through my hands by my own doing. But every link in the chain — the health to work, the rain, the market, the breath — is held open by Him. If He simply paused the flow, who is my backup supplier? Does that reframe how I hold what I earn — and how tightly I grip it?

Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Ashur.

Reflect with the Five Lenses

Maani's framework for Tadabbur (heart-centred reflection) on Surah Al-Mulk 67:21:

• Wording. Look closely at the specific words and structure. Which word stands out, and why might Allah have chosen it here?
• Quranic Worlds. Place the verse in its context — what is happening around it, and what world does it open up?
• Personal Experience. Ask not just what this means, but what it means TO me and FOR me, right now in my life.
• Connections. How does this verse connect to other verses, to the Sunnah, or to themes across the Quran?
• General Lessons. What timeless lesson or action point can I carry away and live by?