Pearls From Tafsir

When Mary went into labour, giving birth to Jesus, God revealed to her:

وَهُزِّىٓ إِلَيْكِ بِجِذْعِ ٱلنَّخْلَةِ تُسَقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَبًۭا جَنِيًّۭا

‘𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗹𝗺 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂; 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗲, 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂.’ [Qur’an 19:25].

Palm-trees are massive and an exhausted pregnant woman, can hardly shake its trunk during labour … and God could drop the fresh-dates to her as a miracle without asking her to do anything, but He still wanted her to make a move towards getting it:

Imam al-Qurtubi writes in the Tafsir of this:

أن الرزق وإن كان محتوما ؛ فإن الله تعالى قد وكل ابن آدم إلى سعي ما فيه

‘This shows that even though sustenance is already pre-ordained, God Almighty still requires the children of Adam to actively make a move to get it.’

[‘Jami li-Ahkam al-Qur’an’, 11/95].

Even if a task seems impossible … just make the move, God will take care of the rest.

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