‹We Have Certainly Honored the Children of Adam›: Honor, Carrying, and Provision

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 9 June 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

In the Fajr prayer we read the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted: ﴿وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ وَحَمَلْنَاهُمْ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَرَزَقْنَاهُم مِّنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَفَضَّلْنَاهُمْ عَلَىٰ كَثِيرٍ مِّمَّنْ خَلَقْنَا تَفْضِيلًا﴾ (And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference)^[1]. What is the significance of the term "honoring"?

The Children of Adam, Not People in General

The human being who came to be honored is chosen from among all those around him to be above them by a rank. But we ask: is what is meant by honoring human beings in general, or the children of Adam? And is there a difference between the two? Addressing by Adam-hood is a sense that you are "ādamī." And the word "ādamī" among our brothers in the Levant means a human being distinguished from others by his morals, his conduct, his good disposition, his distinguished mind, and his good choice of things and people. The verse did not say: We have honored people, but said: We have honored the children of Adam; so the relationship between him and others is not the relationship of faith and polytheism, but the relationship of Adam-hood, and what stands opposite it is bestiality. There is a human being who lives as an ādamī, and there is a person who lives like beasts, may Allah honor you. And in another place the Exalted said: ﴿إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا كَالْأَنْعَامِ﴾ (They are only like cattle)^[2], we seek refuge in Allah, we ask Allah for safety.

And opposite him is another creature of the same form and the same appearance, but he is not an ādamī living on earth; this one is not honored, but has chosen disgrace for himself by his own choice. The basic principle is that Allah, Blessed and Exalted, honored the children of Adam. So why did He say "the children of Adam"? To indicate that from the first Adam until you who come after, the capacity for honor is present; you are able to choose for yourself to be honored, or to be disgraced, we seek refuge in Allah.

﴿وَحَمَلْنَاهُمْ﴾: Movement Is Guaranteed

Then our Lord says: ﴿وَحَمَلْنَاهُمْ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ﴾ (and carried them on land and sea). What is the significance of this phrase? When you say to someone: I am carrying you, what do you mean? I am lifting you off the ground. It is as though Allah has carried us in provisions, in sustenance, in lifespans, in the sun that rises, the day that passes, the night that comes, and the seas that water the rivers that flow; all of that is from the carrying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, for these human beings.

And in another sense: when you carry a person, you carry him only to move him from one place to another, is that not so? Then the Lord of the worlds tells you that He honored you and chose you, and that the moving about itself is on Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Your movement in life is not something you are charged with so much as it is guaranteed and assured by the Lord of Might, Glory be to Him. So there are no provisions whose worry you carry; you strive and follow the means, and travel through the land, and knock on doors, and exert yourself and try, not to obtain provision, but so that you feel your Adam-hood, that you are a human being who earns and does not live as a burden on others. It is as though my Lord, Mighty and Majestic, gave me the opportunity to strive so that I may feel settled, and not because Allah arranged provision to depend on whether you move or do not move.

The Two Verses on Provision in Hūd and al-ʿAnkabūt

We have always explained the difference between two verses. The first is in Hūd: ﴿وَمَا مِن دَابَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ إِلَّا عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا﴾ (And there is no creature on earth but that upon Allah is its provision)^[3]. And we agreed that if you are someone with "dabīb," that is, able to move, then your provision is in the heavens, and you are required to strive to bring it. So what about one who has no ability to crawl, who cannot walk or move or work or keep hours or think, where does he go? Does he have no provision? The answer comes in the second verse: ﴿وَكَأَيِّن مِّن دَابَّةٍ لَّا تَحْمِلُ رِزْقَهَا﴾ (And how many a creature does not carry its [own] provision)^[4], so it does not carry its provision, and Allah provides for it, bringing it food from the one who is qualified for that.

So the matter of striving, and the link between striving and obtaining provision, the Lord of the worlds made a matter of causality. Why? So that you may feel that you have worth.

Had Allah Not Carried Us, We Would Not Have Stood

Allah says: ﴿وَحَمَلْنَاهُمْ﴾ (and We carried them). Were it not for Allah's carrying of the servant, I could not stand before you now speaking, and you could not go to your hospital or your work today, and you would not be among your colleagues in the company, or in the field in which you work. No one moves were it not for the carrying of people by Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Then He says, Glory be to Him: ﴿وَرَزَقْنَاهُم﴾ (and provided for them), and this provision depends on the striving through which Allah has shown you that you are someone with responsibility in life, and that you deserve to exist on this earth. So all of it, from first to last, is honor from the Lord of the worlds.

The Example of the Child

Imagine you have a child who cannot move his hand much and feels that he is less than his siblings. One time you say to him: My dear, pass me that cup. So he stretches out his hand, takes the cup and gives it to you. Imagine his feeling: as if he had accomplished what neither the earlier nor the later generations accomplished! The matter is psychological; he did nothing in reality, but psychologically he senses that he is someone with strength. So when Allah charged us with traveling through the land, it was not to obtain provisions that would not exist except through our striving, but the Lord of the worlds, Glory be to Him, has guaranteed the whole of creation: ﴿قُل لَّوْ أَنتُمْ تَمْلِكُونَ خَزَائِنَ رَحْمَةِ رَبِّي إِذًا لَّأَمْسَكْتُمْ خَشْيَةَ الْإِنفَاقِ ۚ وَكَانَ الْإِنسَانُ قَتُورًا﴾ (Say, "If you possessed the depositories of the mercy of my Lord, then you would withhold out of fear of spending." And ever has man been stingy)^[5].

The Good Things and the Preference

Then our Lord says: ﴿وَرَزَقْنَاهُم مِّنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ﴾ (and provided for them of the good things). Provision, when it comes from Allah, is good, and only the good attain the good. Then He says: ﴿وَفَضَّلْنَاهُمْ عَلَىٰ كَثِيرٍ مِّمَّنْ خَلَقْنَا تَفْضِيلًا﴾ (and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference). You see this kind of ādamī in any society and any culture; people of standing, who may be utterly poor, with no money and no position, but who are honored psychologically in the hearts of those around them. So you find someone saying to one of them: Uncle so-and-so, I want to consult you about something, and he says: I found no one but you, I trust you. So you see them as a place of people's trust, a place of the creation's esteem, and a source of humanity's pride.

The Sweetness of the Verses

The verses are sweet in taste, good in flavor, and the understanding drawn from them is enriching, and you find yourself refreshed if you reflect on them even for moments, and you feel that you are someone of worth in this world, someone of dignity, a human being who walks the earth with his Adam-hood. So we ask Allah, Mighty and Majestic, not to take this Adam-hood from us, and to make us a place of His trust, Glory be to Him, on earth, so that He uses us and does not replace us. O Allah, amen, O Lord of the worlds.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Al-Isrāʾ: 70. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Al-Furqān: 44, and the speaker mentioned only this much of the verse. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Hūd: 6. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Al-ʿAnkabūt: 60. The speaker mentioned the verse in brief and understood from it that Allah provides for the one who does not carry his provision; its continuation in the muṣḥaf is: ﴿اللَّهُ يَرْزُقُهَا وَإِيَّاكُمْ﴾. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: Al-Isrāʾ: 100.