What the Eyes See

In the Quran, Allah swears by various things to emphasize either the message that follows the oath, or the subject matter of the oath itself. Chapter 85 tells the story of an ancient tyrant who committed a genocide against a group of believers who refused to worship him.

And in that context, Allah swears by the witness and witnessed.

In prayer this morning, this verse hit me like ton of bricks. What various forms of evil and oppression do witness everyday? Abandoned orphans. Genocide. Injustice. Poverty and homelessness. Food waste and hunger….

The act of witnessing carries with it a heaviness and fear of being asked on judgement day about what my eyes witnessed. Injustices against the weak do not go unwitnessed by Allah.

We are all witnesses. And Allah is over everything a witness.

وَشَاهِدٍۢ وَمَشْهُودٍۢ ٣

by the Witness and that which is witnessed,

The Holy Quran | Chapter 85, Verse 3