The 365 · Verses · Day 267 · Justice
The only payment he seeks is the Face of his Lord, the Most High.
إِلَّا ٱبْتِغَآءَ وَجْهِ رَبِّهِ ٱلْأَعْلَىٰ
“But for the sake of his Lord the Most High. (Quran 92:20)”
92:20 Read 92:20 with tafsir
Svenska: men av kärlek till sin Herre, den Högste.
The story
After stripping away every lesser motive - no favor sought, no debt repaid - the āyah names the one thing that remains: 'except seeking the Face of his Lord, the Most High.' Ibn Kathīr explains that this giver spends hoping to attain the ultimate blessing: to see the Face of his Lord in the Gardens of Paradise. Nothing smaller will do. As-Saʿdī echoes the reading and carries it into the āyah that follows - wa la-sawfa yarḍā, 'and he will surely be pleased' - which he explains as the pleasure this most pious soul will feel at the honors and rewards Allah bestows on him. Justice here reaches its summit. This cluster began with the ordering of earthly rights - debts settled, dependents provided for, favors cleared - and it arrives at the ultimate account: a Lord who is Himself al-Aʿlā, the Most High, above every worldly transaction. The one who has been perfectly just with people, owing and owning nothing, now turns his whole ledger toward God. His reward is not returned by human hands that may forget or fall short; it is guaranteed by the Most High, who does not leave a single atom of good unseen. Perfect justice, the āyah promises, ends in perfect satisfaction.
In the language
The āyah is built on an exception: illā - 'except.' Every possible motive is negated in the verse before it - no favor to be repaid - and then illā admits one and only one purpose: ibtighāʾa wajhi rabbihi, 'seeking the Face of his Lord.' The rhetoric is exclusive by design: the structure first empties the heart of all motives, then permits a single one to enter. Ibn Kathīr fills wajh, the Face, with its fullest hope - not merely Allah's pleasure but the vision of His Face in Paradise. And the phrase is crowned with al-Aʿlā, the Most High: the One sought is above every rank and every giver the servant might otherwise have turned to. Read together, the words draw a funnel - all lesser aims excluded, all attention narrowed to the highest possible object. Sincerity, in this construction, is not a feeling added to the deed; it is what is left when every other reason has been ruled out.
Why this verse
Justice with people is completed by sincerity with God. When the only reward you seek is His Face, no one can corrupt your fairness with a smaller prize - and your account is settled by the One who never overlooks a good deed.
Bring it into today
Try an experiment in intention. Before a good deed - a donation, a fair decision, a kindness - pause and name what you are really after. Approval? Reputation? A future favor returned? Ibn Kathīr says the one saved from the Fire wanted only the Face of his Lord. You will rarely reach that purity in a single motion, but you can aim at it. So practice subtraction: notice each lesser reward you are hoping for and consciously set it aside, until what remains is God alone. And take comfort in the promise that follows - 'he will surely be pleased.' When you give for the Most High, you are not gambling on human gratitude that may never come; your reward rests with the One who forgets nothing. Let that free you to do the right thing even when no one will thank you for it.
A reflection to carry
Notice how the āyah completes a movement. First it empties the heart - no favor sought, no debt repaid - and only then names a single purpose: the Face of the Most High. Sincerity, it suggests, is not added on top of a deed; it is what remains after every other motive is removed. Ibn Kathīr says the God-conscious spend hoping for the vision of Allah Himself; as-Saʿdī points to the promise that seals it - such a soul will be pleased with what its Lord bestows. Which of your good deeds are quietly waiting for someone to notice?
Sources: Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
Also on Day 267
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
Subscribe, free