“Are They the Ones Who Distribute the Mercy of Your Lord?”

The Paradox of Muslim Potential

There is a recurring feeling many of us experience when we look across the Muslim world today: a sense that immense capability exists, yet collective progress remains uneven.

Initiatives emerge with promise, talented individuals rise in their respective fields, and moments of brilliance appear across industries and regions, but too often these efforts unfold in isolation from one another.

The result is not failure, but, in my understanding, a result of fragmentation, an unintended inefficiency that holds the Ummah back, not due to a lack of excellence, but because that excellence is rarely aligned.

Divine Distribution: Mercy Beyond Provision

Allah addresses this condition with remarkable clarity in Sūrah az-Zukhruf:

أَهُمْ يَقْسِمُونَ رَحْمَةَ رَبِّكَ ۚ نَحْنُ قَسَمْنَا بَيْنَهُم مَّعِيشَتَهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَرَفَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَاتٍ لِّيَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُهُم بَعْضًا سُخْرِيًّا ۗ وَرَحْمَةُ رَبِّكَ خَيْرٌ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ

“Is it they who distribute the mercy of your Lord? It is We who have distributed among them their livelihood in the life of this world and raised some of them above others in degrees, so that they may take one another in service. But the mercy of your Lord is better than whatever they accumulate.” (43:32)

 

This verse is often read as a theological statement about provision, yet its implications extend far beyond sustenance alone.

It speaks to the deliberate way Allah distributes capability, access, influence, and responsibility across people and communities.

The Design of Interdependence

Nothing about this distribution is accidental. Differences in skill, opportunity, intellect, and reach are not signs of favouritism or hierarchy but components of a larger design, one intended to produce interdependence rather than isolation.

The phrase “We have distributed among them their livelihood” reminds us that our positions in life, including the fields we enter and the capacities we possess, are not purely self-engineered. Our inclinations toward technology, law, humanitarian service, commerce, or public discourse are part of a broader allocation of roles, each existing in relation to the other.

Degrees Without Superiority, but Functional Difference

When Allah says He raised some above others in degrees, it is not a declaration of intrinsic superiority but a description of functional differentiation. The purpose of this elevation is made explicit:

“so that they may take one another in service.”

This framing shifts the conversation from a sense of hierarchy to a sense of harmony, and from a paradigm of competition to one of complementarity.

The Ummah Struggles Today

This is where the modern Ummah often struggles. We have internalised the idea of individual excellence, yet lost sight of collective function.

Many Muslims, perhaps without realisation, operate as though success must be self-contained to be authentic, as though working in alignment with others somehow diminishes personal agency.

In truth, the opposite is true. Excellence that remains disconnected does not multiply; rather, it stagnates. It will produce isolated achievements, but never sustained progress.

Visibility Without Vision

A practical example of this tension between individual excellence and collective function is visible in public representation. When Muslims speak on podcasts, panels, or media platforms, it is often assumed that one can speak purely as an individual, detached from broader responsibility.

Yet in practice, visibility is never neutral. Whether intended or not, Muslim voices are received as indicative of Islam and the entire Muslim community, and in the absence of a shared vision or grounding collaborative framework, representation becomes fragmented, narratives clash, priorities diverge, and the Ummah appears incoherent, not due to a lack of depth, but a lack of coordination.

This same pattern repeats across professional sectors...

In technology, for example, Muslims build innovative products and companies, yet rarely within an intentional ecosystem serving long-term communal needs.

In law, individual advocacy flourishes, while collective legal literacy and policy protection lag behind.

In humanitarian work, sincere initiatives often overlap without strategic coordination, leading to duplication rather than durable capacity.

In trade, finance, and entrepreneurship, success is frequently pursued in isolation, with little emphasis on intra-Ummah supply chains, investment pathways, or economic resilience.

None of this reflects a lack of talent or sincerity. It reflects a misunderstanding of how mercy was meant to operate.

Mercy Versus Accumulation

Allah did not distribute capability so that each person could operate independently. He distributed it so that strengths would compensate for gaps and so that progress would emerge through cooperation rather than competition.

The closing of the verse brings the argument into sharp focus:

“The mercy of your Lord is better than whatever they accumulate.”

 

Accumulation here extends beyond wealth to include status, followers, reach, and personal brand. Success measured solely by what one gathers remains fragile and replaceable.

Mercy, by contrast, produces continuity. It builds institutions rather than personalities, systems rather than reactions, and legacies that extend beyond a single career or lifetime.

From Individual Brilliance to Collective Momentum

The challenge facing the Ummah today is not whether individuals can shine. Many already do, alḥamdulillāh.

The real question is whether individual excellence can be aligned toward a shared direction. Whether Muslims can move from parallel efforts to integrated strategy, from accidental representation to intentional stewardship, and from isolated success to collective momentum.

Allah has already distributed the mercy.

The skills exist.
The opportunities exist.
The diversity of roles exists.

What remains is the discipline to recognise that none of these were meant to stand alone and the understanding that the future of the Ummah will not be shaped by solitary brilliance but by excellence that understands its place within the whole.