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Surah Al-Isra — 17:2

وَءَاتَيْنَا مُوسَى ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَجَعَلْنَـٰهُ هُدًى لِّبَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ أَلَّا تَتَّخِذُوا۟ مِن دُونِى وَكِيلًا

Wa aatainaa Moosal-Kitaaba wa ja'alnaahu hudal-liBaneee Israaa'eel;

We also gave Moses the Scripture, and made it a guide for the Children of Israel. ‘Entrust yourselves to no one but Me,

And we gave Musa the Scripture and made it a guidance for the Children of Israel: take no guardian apart from me.

Reflection

Placement does the work here. The surah has just carried the Prophet to the Farthest Mosque, and the next breath is Musa receiving the Scripture, so two sanctuaries and two revelations sit in one frame with no word of explanation joining them. The instruction then shifts into the singular after a plural verb of giving, and wakil means the one you hand your affairs to, which makes this reliance as much as creed.

← 17:1 17:3 →

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