The 365 · Verses · Day 136 · Knowledge
Wisdom is a gift. Create the conditions and ask for it.
Qur'an Quran 2:269
يُؤْتِى ٱلْحِكْمَةَ مَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَمَن يُؤْتَ ٱلْحِكْمَةَ فَقَدْ أُوتِىَ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا ۗ وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّآ أُو۟لُوا۟ ٱلْأَلْبَـٰبِ
“...He gives wisdom to whoever He will. Whoever is given wisdom has truly been given much good, but only those with insight bear this in mind. (Abdel Haleem)”
Svenska: Han skänker visdom åt den Han vill, och den som har fått visdom har fått den dyrbaraste gåva. Men ingen ägnar detta eftertanke utom de som har förstånd. (Knut Bernström)
The story
The verse comes in the context of charity-spending discipline. Just as Allah commands believers to give the best of their wealth, He gives the best gift (ḥikmah) to those He wills. The classical unpacking is layered: ḥikmah includes Quranic understanding, prophetic-tradition mastery, sound judgment, and integrated capacity to apply knowledge correctly.
In the language
Khayran kathīrā (much good) is intensified: not 'good' but 'abundant good.' Ḥikmah is the operational integration: knowledge that knows what to apply where; understanding that grasps the inner-meaning of the outer-form; judgment that decides correctly under uncertainty. Ūlū al-albāb (the people of insight) are the ones who structurally benefit.
Why this verse
Q 2:269 names ḥikmah (wisdom) as a divine gift bestowed on whom Allah wills. Whoever is given ḥikmah has been given khayran kathīrā (much good). Ibn Kathīr cites Ibn ʿAbbās's definition of ḥikmah: 'knowledge of the Quran: its abrogating and abrogated, plain and unclear, what it allows and prohibits, and its parables.' The Prophetic hadith (Bukhārī 73, Muslim 816): 'There is no envy except in two: a person whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it righteously, and a person whom Allah has given ḥikmah and he judges by it and teaches it.'
Bring it into today
Recognize ḥikmah as a gift, not an achievement. Make duʿāʾ for ḥikmah daily.
A reflection to carry
Ḥikmah is the operational integration of knowledge, judgment, and right-application. The Prophetic hadith on the two-permitted-envies names the wealth-giver and the ḥikmah-giver-and-teacher: structural parallel between material and spiritual giving.
Read the longer reflection
The classical scholars wrote that Q 2:269's promise is the structural Quranic warrant for the believer's lifelong pursuit. The verse names ḥikmah as a divine gift; the Companions' practice makes it operationally pursuable: knowledge-seeking creates the substrate; sincerity creates the vessel; Allah grants the ḥikmah. The triad (effort + sincerity + grant) is the classical model.
Sources: Ibn Kathir. 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.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
Subscribe, free