[53:43] Who Makes Us Laugh and Cry?

Author: Berk KÖKSAL

Date: October 8, 2026

Place: Mersin

The central purpose of this article is to reflect on 53:43 together with other related verses, and to consider, with sincerity and depth, what bearing witness to the oneness of GOD means in human life in terms of knowledge, justice, truthfulness, and submission.

Peace. Peace be upon you.

A human being can laugh in one moment and, only hours later, cry without being able to explain everything that has moved inside him. A message, a memory, a loss, a reunion, success, fear, a verse, a sound, another person’s words—there are many immediate causes that can stir us. Yet 53:43 moves behind all these immediate causes and gives a much larger sentence: “He is the One who makes you laugh or cry.”

That verse does not only make me ask where emotion comes from. It opens harder questions. When I laugh, whom do I thank? When I cry, toward whom do I turn? If another person makes me happy, do I begin to treat that person as the ultimate owner of my joy? If another person hurts me, do I hand that person complete authority over my inner life? Do I read tears as proof that faith has failed, or laughter as automatic proof that GOD approves of me?

The verses do not allow such easy equations. In the same sura comes the question, “Are you laughing, instead of crying?” Elsewhere, the wicked laugh at believers. Prophets fall prostrate and weep when revelations are recited. Jacob’s intense grief is not hidden. People rejoice when rain arrives after despair. Hearts rejoice in remembering GOD. Some faces in the Hereafter are described as laughing and joyful.

So the question is not simply whether I laugh or cry. Why I laugh, why I cry, what I attach the emotion to, and where the emotion leads me matter as well.

In earlier reflections I considered trust in GOD, true wealth, appreciation, and reverence. 53:43 gathers all of these again in one of the most intimate regions of human life. Laughter and tears are among the moments in which a human being is least able to hide what is moving within.

Summary

53:43 وَأَنَّهُۥ هُوَ أَضْحَكَ وَأَبْكَىٰ He is the One who makes you laugh or cry. Sizi güldüren ya da ağlatan O’dur.

53:42 — To your Lord is the final destiny.

53:44 — He is the One who controls death and life.

53:48 — He is the One who makes you rich or poor.

53:49 — He is the Lord of the galaxies.

1. Who Makes Us Laugh and Cry?

Verse

53:43

وَأَنَّهُۥ هُوَ أَضْحَكَ وَأَبْكَىٰ

He is the One who makes you laugh or cry.

Sizi güldüren ya da ağlatan O’dur.

Source: kuranteyit.com

Reflection on the Verse

53:43 is a very short verse, but its subject is stated with such force that it unsettles the human sense of emotional ownership: “He is the One.” The One who makes us laugh or cry is GOD.

I do not want to reduce this to a weaker sentence such as “GOD merely gave human beings the biological ability to laugh and cry,” because Rashad Khalifa’s Authorized English Translation speaks more directly than that. At the same time, I should not go beyond the verse and make detailed claims about every particular tear, as if I knew the exact divine purpose behind each moment. The secure point is enough: the verse attributes laughing and crying to GOD.

That does not require denying immediate human causes. A friend may make me laugh. Someone’s words may bring me to tears. A piece of news may become the immediate occasion of joy, and another event the immediate occasion of grief. Yet 53:43 prevents me from turning the immediate cause into the final source. My eyes may stop at the human being; the verse lifts the gaze higher.

For me, this is a powerful matter of monotheism. Someone may bring joy into my life, but I cannot make that person the owner of my heart. Someone may hurt me, but I cannot act as though that person possesses the eternal keys to my soul. People influence us. Events influence us. Memories influence us. Yet the verse gives the final attribution of laughter and tears to GOD.

When I bring this into my own life, both laughter and tears become more humble. When I laugh, I can remember the source of blessing instead of imagining that I produced all goodness by myself. When I cry, I can remember that even the tear is not outside the knowledge of GOD.

In Rashad Khalifa’s Authorized English Translation, the wording is “makes you laugh or cry”; in the Turkish translation of the Authorized English Translation, it is rendered as “Sizi güldüren ya da ağlatan O’dur.” For me, the weight of the sentence falls first on the subject: Who? He.

Verse reference: 53:43.

2. The Final Destiny Is to Your Lord: Emotion Has a Horizon

Verse

53:42 — To your Lord is the final destiny.

53:43 — He is the One who makes you laugh or cry.

Reflection on the Verse

It is easy to turn 53:43 into an isolated inspirational saying about emotion. But 53:42 stands immediately before it: “To your Lord is the final destiny.” Then comes: “He is the One who makes you laugh or cry.”

That order tells me that emotion is not the final measure. How happy I feel today does not by itself define the meaning of my life. How deeply I grieve today is not the final judgment either. Emotion is real, but emotion is not the final destination.

A period of success can make me feel that everything must be right. A project works, people respond, doors open, and inner satisfaction begins to sound like proof. The opposite can happen as well. A plan collapses, a relationship changes, a loss enters my life, and I begin to think that everything must therefore be wrong. 53:42 cuts through both extremes: the final destiny is to my Lord.

This gives me a form of emotional submission. I do not have to reject joy, but I should not worship it. I do not have to deny grief, but I should not treat grief as the final verdict. Laughter can pass. Tears can dry. People’s attitudes toward me can change. The direction of the final return does not change.

Perhaps 53:43 is heard more clearly when 53:42 is heard first. The GOD who is attributed with our laughter and tears is also the Lord of the final destiny. No emotion, however intense, is allowed to become a new authority that removes me from accountability before Him.

Verse references: 53:42-43.

3. The One Who Controls Death and Life: In Whose Life Do We Feel?

Verse

53:44 — He is the One who controls death and life.

Reflection on the Verse

Immediately after laughter and crying, the sura speaks of death and life. That proximity moves me. Laughing and crying are deeply personal movements within life; the next verse places life itself under GOD’s control.

I can laugh only because life has been given. I can cry only because I live. A memory can rise in my mind, a voice can move me, I can love someone, and loss can hurt precisely because I have been allowed to live through these capacities.

Most of the time I focus on the immediate cause of an emotion. “This made me laugh.” “That made me cry.” But when I remember that life itself does not belong to me absolutely, the sentence changes. I am not the ultimate owner even of the ground upon which emotion is experienced.

This does not require erasing human will. The verse does not give a detailed theory of every choice I make. Yet by placing death and life under GOD’s control, it sets a clear limit: I am not the absolute owner of my own existence.

Therefore my laughter is not a guarantee of eternity, and my tears are not proof that I have been cut off from GOD. Both occur within life, and the Owner of life is He.

Verse reference: 53:44.

4. Wealth, Poverty, and Emotional Security

Verse

53:48 — He is the One who makes you rich or poor.

Reflection on the Verse

53:48 belongs to the same sequence as 53:43: “He is the One who makes you rich or poor.” The proximity makes me think about how often joy and grief become attached to material conditions. Income rises and a person relaxes. Money disappears and fear arrives. A new opportunity produces laughter; a financial loss produces tears.

Yet the verse does not leave wealth and poverty outside GOD’s dominion either.

In my earlier reflection, True Wealth According to the Quran: Material Wealth or Not Being Rich?, I considered 53:48 in relation to the danger of treating material condition as an automatic measure of worth before GOD. Here the same verse opens another question: material circumstances may affect my emotions, but should money become the final center of emotional security?

A person can hold money not only for practical needs, but as an emotional fortress. “If I have this amount, I am safe. If I lose it, everything is over.” 53:48 challenges the heart to move beyond that equation.

That does not mean refusing practical responsibility. Work, budgeting, saving, planning, and providing are all real parts of life. But if wealth and poverty themselves are not outside GOD’s authority, then tying the final security of the heart only to numbers creates tension with monotheism.

I do not want to define my laughter only by the arrival of money, or my tears only by its departure. The same passage points to one Owner over emotion and provision.

Verse reference: 53:48.

5. The Lord of the Galaxies and a Human Tear

Verse

53:49 — He is the Lord of the galaxies.

Reflection on the Verse

The fact that 53:49 stands so close to 53:43 makes me feel small every time I read the sequence: “He is the Lord of the galaxies.” A few verses earlier, there was the laughing and crying human being. Now there are galaxies.

The same Lord.

At that scale, one human tear may appear almost nothing. Yet the sequence itself places the most personal human emotion beside cosmic sovereignty. I cannot infer that every feeling I have is the center of the universe. Quite the opposite: I am removed from the center. But being small does not mean being outside the knowledge of GOD.

A person may look at the night sky and suddenly feel that his problems are tiny. Sometimes that brings relief; sometimes it raises another thought: “Why would what I feel matter at all?” Reading 53:43 beside 53:49 produces a different balance in me. The Lord of the galaxies is also the One to whom laughter and crying are attributed.

This makes me think of nearness and power at the same time. If I imagine GOD only as a distant abstract force behind the universe, I miss something in the passage. He is the Lord of the galaxies, and human laughter and tears are not outside His lordship.

My scale may be small. My Lord is not.

Verse reference: 53:49.

6. Is Every Laugh in the Right Place?

Verse

53:60 — Are you laughing, instead of crying?

53:61 — Are you insisting on your ways?

53:62 — You shall fall prostrate before GOD, and worship.

Reflection on the Verse

53:43 says GOD makes us laugh or cry. Near the end of the same sura, however, 53:60 asks a disturbing question: “Are you laughing, instead of crying?” Then come: “Are you insisting on your ways?” and “You shall fall prostrate before GOD, and worship.”

This shows clearly that laughter by itself is not proof of righteousness. A person can laugh in the wrong place. One can laugh at a warning, use humor to dissolve seriousness, or continue in a chosen way while refusing to be moved.

Sometimes laughter is relief. Sometimes it is the natural language of joy. Yet laughter can also protect a person from having to face something true. A warning touches the conscience, so the person turns it into a joke. Something serious is made ridiculous before it can be considered.

For me, the call to prostration after 53:60-61 clarifies the direction. The point is not that a believer must look sad all the time. The issue is whether laughter has become a means of refusing to bow before GOD.

I have to ask myself what I laugh at. Another person’s weakness? A warning that makes me uncomfortable? Or a blessing for which I can be grateful?

Not every laugh has the same moral meaning.

Verse references: 53:60-62.

7. Laughing a Little and Crying a Lot: Emotion Can Be a Consequence

Verse

9:82 — Let them laugh a little, and cry a lot. This is the requital for the sins they have earned.

Reflection on the Verse

9:82 places laughter and crying in yet another context. Here, laughing little and crying much are presented as a requital for sins that have been earned.

I cannot turn this into a diagnosis of everyone who cries frequently. The verse does not authorize me to say, “This person cries because GOD is punishing him for sin.” It speaks within a particular context about particular people.

But it does reveal a broader moral possibility: laughter and tears can be tied to consequences. What a human being chooses can eventually return to him not only as an external result, but as an emotional one.

A person may laugh in the short term and later discover that what he celebrated produced regret. Something right may hurt in the present and yet lead to peace. Therefore immediate feeling cannot by itself establish whether a path is right.

This matters in an age that often turns “feeling good” into the main criterion. Something can feel good and still be wrong. Something can make me cry and still be true. I do not degrade emotion; I simply refuse to place emotion above revelation.

Verse reference: 9:82.

8. The Laugh of Mockery: Turning Another Person into Entertainment

Verse

23:110 — “But you mocked and ridiculed them, to the extent that you forgot Me. You used to laugh at them.

83:29 — The wicked used to laugh at those who believed.

83:30 — When they passed by them, they used to poke fun.

83:31 — When they got together with their people, they used to joke.

83:32 — Whenever they saw them, they said, “These people are far astray!

83:33 — “They have no such thing as (invisible) guards.”

Reflection on the Verse

The verses show another kind of laughter: laughter that mocks.

23:110 speaks of people who mocked and ridiculed the believers until they forgot GOD. 83:29-33 describes the wicked laughing at those who believed, poking fun when they passed, and joking about them among their own people.

Here laughter is not innocent. It becomes a tool of humiliation.

That forces me to examine my own sense of humor. It is easy to laugh at another person’s mistake. In a group, it can become even easier to make entertainment out of someone’s faith, appearance, ignorance, failure, poverty, or loneliness. The fact that everyone else is laughing can silence conscience.

I believe humor, music, and creative expression can lighten life. But these verses remind me that humor has an ethical boundary. Laughter can become a weapon that strips another person of dignity.

The most severe part for me is in 23:110: mockery stands beside forgetting GOD. I may become so pleased with my own superiority that I forget the common position of servanthood before Him.

Laughter is a blessing. When it is used to crush another human being, its direction can become corrupt.

Verse references: 23:110, 83:29-33.

9. The Direction of Laughter Can Reverse on the Day of Judgment

Verse

83:34 — Today, those who believed are laughing at the disbelievers.

83:35 — On luxurious furnishings they watch.

83:36 — Most assuredly, the disbelievers are requited for what they did.

Reflection on the Verse

In 83:29-33, the wicked laughed at believers in worldly life. In 83:34-36 the scene reverses: “Today, those who believed are laughing at the disbelievers.” The passage closes by stating that the disbelievers are requited for what they did.

This reversal makes worldly social approval look very temporary. A person can be mocked today. An idea can be treated as ridiculous. Someone can stand alone while the crowd laughs. Yet the laughter of the crowd is not the measure of truth.

There is a contemporary dimension to this that is difficult to ignore. A few seconds of video can turn a person into the object of laughter for thousands. As the number of laughing reactions grows, social judgment can begin to feel final. The verses warn me that laughter can change direction.

So other people laughing at me does not automatically prove that I am wrong. Nor does applause prove that I am right. Laughter is not the criterion.

This matters for testimony and truthful speech as well. A person can hide what he knows because he fears ridicule. He can reshape his words in order to remain socially comfortable. But if accountability is real, present comfort is not final security.

Laughter passes. Requital remains.

Verse references: 83:34-36.

10. Jacob’s Tears: Grief Does Not Cancel Faith

Verse

12:84 — He turned away from them, saying, “I am grieving over Joseph.” His eyes turned white from grieving so much; he was truly sad.

12:85 — They said, “By GOD, you will keep on grieving over Joseph until you become ill, or until you die.”

12:86 — He said, “I simply complain to GOD about my dilemma and grief, for I know from GOD what you do not know.

Reflection on the Verse

Jacob’s grief is not hidden. 12:84 says that he grieved over Joseph and that his eyes turned white from grieving so much. Those around him say in 12:85 that he may continue grieving until he becomes ill or dies. Then 12:86 shows the direction of his heart: “I simply complain to GOD about my dilemma and grief…”

For me, these verses create an essential balance. Faith does not mean that a human being never grieves. Love, separation, waiting, loss, and uncertainty can shake a person deeply.

Religious language can sometimes burden people with the idea that tears are evidence of weak faith: “If you trust GOD, you should not be sad.” Jacob’s story does not allow me to make that simple equation. He grieves. He grieves intensely.

But grief is turned toward GOD. He brings his complaint to GOD.

Submission, then, does not have to mean suppressing the emotion. It can mean refusing to turn the emotion into flight from GOD. I can cry and still turn toward Him. I can speak my dilemma to Him. I do not have to perform emotional strength in front of people in order to prove faith.

These verses teach me not to be ashamed of tears, but also not to worship them. My pain may be real. My Lord is still greater than my pain.

Verse references: 12:84-86.

11. Prostrating and Weeping: When Tears Become Submission

Verse

17:109 — They fall down on their chins, prostrating and weeping. For it augments their reverence.

19:58 — These are some of the prophets whom GOD blessed. They were chosen from among the descendants of Adam, and the descendants of those whom we carried with Noah, and the descendants of Abraham and Israel, and from among those whom we guided and selected. When the revelations of the Most Gracious are recited to them, they fall prostrate, weeping.

Reflection on the Verse

17:109 and 19:58 place tears in a very different setting: prostration.

Here crying is not only the expression of pain. It appears with reverence and submission before revelation. The human being hears the revelation, falls prostrate, and weeps.

In my earlier reflection on reverence, I considered how reverence is more than a passing feeling; it touches behavior, limits, humility, and obedience. These verses add another layer. Emotion is not worthless. Tears, when turned in the right direction, can stand beside prostration.

Yet I also need caution here. Crying by itself is not a certificate of spiritual superiority. Someone can be deeply moved in a religious setting, cry intensely, and later change nothing. The verses do not give me authority to judge the tears of others, nor do they give me reason to admire my own tears.

A harder question is better: if revelation brought me to tears, did it also bend me? Did it soften the heart? Did it reduce the ego? Did it make me more willing to correct myself?

When tears become prostration, emotion may have found its direction. If tears merely become another reason to admire myself, I may have returned the center to the self again.

Verse references: 17:109, 19:58.

12. From Despair to Rejoicing: The Heart After the Rain

Verse

30:48 — GOD is the One who sends the winds, to stir up clouds, to be spread throughout the sky in accordance with His will. He then piles the clouds up, then you see the rain coming down therefrom. When it falls on whomever He chooses from among His servants, they rejoice.

30:49 — Before it fell on them, they had resorted to despair.

30:50 — You shall appreciate GOD’s continuous mercy, and how He revives the land that has been dead. He will just as certainly resurrect the dead.He is Omnipotent.

Reflection on the Verse

30:48-50 contains a very human transition. People were in despair. Then rain comes, and they rejoice. The passage links winds, clouds, rain, the revival of dead land, and continuing mercy to GOD.

A person who had despaired can soon be rejoicing.

That reminds me how changeable emotions are. Something that looks impossible today can change tomorrow. A closed door may open. A period of waiting that feels unbearable can become gratitude when the result arrives.

In my earlier reflection on trusting GOD, I considered the tension between control and submission. I see the same tension here. A person cannot command the rain, yet when rain arrives he rejoices.

This is not an argument for passivity. A farmer prepares the ground. A human being works, plans, and acts responsibly. But we do not manufacture every result by our own hands.

For me, 30:49 becomes especially important because despair is not given the final word. The next verse calls attention to GOD’s continuous mercy and to revival.

A day in which I cry is not my entire life.

Verse references: 30:48-50.

13. Do Not Grieve Over What You Miss, and Do Not Become Proud of What You Receive

Verse

57:22 — Anything that happens on earth, or to you, has already been recorded, even before the creation. This is easy for GOD to do.

57:23 — Thus, you should not grieve over anything you miss, nor be proud of anything He has bestowed upon you. GOD does not love those who are boastful, proud.

Reflection on the Verse

57:23 gives me a disciplined emotional balance: not grieving over what I miss and not becoming proud of what has been bestowed. I do not read this as an instruction to become emotionally numb, because grief appears openly elsewhere in the Quran. The warning seems to prevent loss from owning the whole self and blessing from producing arrogance.

Read with 57:22, the balance becomes clearer. What happens is not presented as something outside GOD’s knowledge and record.

The practical challenge is severe. When something fails, how long do I live inside the loss? When success comes, how quickly do I enlarge myself? Does loss turn me against GOD? Does blessing turn me toward self-glorification?

In my earlier reflection on appreciation, I considered the importance of connecting a blessing to its source. 57:23 asks the same question at both ends of emotion: when something is gone, do not forget GOD; when something is given, do not forget GOD.

If laughter produces boastfulness, there is danger inside the laughter. If tears imprison me in hopelessness, there can also be danger inside the tears.

The emotion itself is not the only question. Where does it take me?

Verse references: 57:22-23.

14. What Happens to Us and Trust: He Is Our Lord and Master

Verse

9:51 — Say, “Nothing happens to us, except what GOD has decreed for us. He is our Lord and Master. In GOD the believers shall trust.”

Reflection on the Verse

9:51 gives a direct call to trust: “He is our Lord and Master. In GOD the believers shall trust.”

Read beside 53:43, this makes me question the center of emotional dependence. A human being may make me laugh, but that person is not my Lord and Master. A human being may make me cry, but that person is still not my Lord and Master.

For me, that distinction is liberating. It does not make people unimportant; it keeps them in the right place. I can love someone. Someone’s words can hurt. Another person’s presence can strengthen me. But no human being occupies the place of GOD.

Trust does not require the disappearance of feeling either. I can trust while afraid. I can trust while crying. I can trust without knowing the result.

The sentence “I trust GOD” is not tested only when everything is comfortable. Its weight appears when control slips away. Gratitude while laughing is important; maintaining trust while weeping may be harder.

9:51 gives a name for that place of difficulty: He is our Lord and Master.

Verse reference: 9:51.

15. What Makes Hearts Rejoice? Remembering GOD

Verse

13:28 — They are the ones whose hearts rejoice in remembering GOD. Absolutely, by remembering GOD, the hearts rejoice.

Reflection on the Verse

13:28 ties rejoicing directly to remembering GOD: “Absolutely, by remembering GOD, the hearts rejoice.”

This matters to me because human beings often search for joy only in external conditions. New possessions, success, approval, travel, good news—many things can make us happy. The verse does not deny them. It points to a deeper source of rejoicing for the heart.

I think about this often in relation to music. A sound can lift a person. A melody can touch the heart. But for me, the healthiest direction of music is not to present itself as the final source. It should serve remembrance. If the sound ends and GOD disappears with it, then the direction of the experience deserves another examination.

In my earlier reflection on silent remembrance, I asked whether remembrance continues when sound ends. 13:28 meets that question directly. The heart’s rejoicing is tied not merely to the stimulus, but to the One remembered.

That also protects me from imagining that monotheism must produce a permanently dark or joyless human being. The verse speaks of rejoicing.

Monotheism is not only fear. There is joy in remembrance as well.

Verse reference: 13:28.

16. Calling on GOD in Joy and in Fear

Verse

21:90 — We* responded to him and granted him John; we fixed his wife for him. That is because they used to hasten to work righteousness, and implored us in situations of joy, as well as fear. To us, they were reverent.

Reflection on the Verse

The phrase that stands out to me in 21:90 is this: they “implored us in situations of joy, as well as fear.”

Human beings often remember GOD most intensely when circumstances become difficult. Prayer comes easily when we cry. We ask for help when we can no longer see a way out. But the verse includes joy as well.

For me, this is a living form of appreciation. Remembering GOD while laughing. Not clinging only to the good news when good news arrives. Not celebrating myself alone when something succeeds. Turning joy back toward its source.

Fear is also directed toward GOD. Servanthood is therefore not tied to one emotional state. I can turn toward the same Lord when I am joyful or afraid, calm or unsettled.

That feels deeply whole to me because a human being is not made of one emotion. Sometimes we are strong, sometimes fragile. Sometimes hopeful, sometimes afraid. The verse places a stable direction above those changing states.

My emotion can change. My direction does not have to.

Verse reference: 21:90.

17. The End of Fear and Grief: The Good News of Paradise

Verse

41:30 — Those who proclaim: “Our Lord is GOD,” then lead a righteous life, the angels descend upon them: “You shall have no fear, nor shall you grieve. Rejoice in the good news that Paradise has been reserved for you.

41:31 — “We are your allies in this life, and in the Hereafter. You will have in it anything you wish for; you will have anything you want.

43:68 — O My servants, you will have no fear on that day, nor will you grieve.

43:69 — They are the ones who believed in our revelations, and were submitters.

43:70 — Enter Paradise, together with your spouses, and rejoice.

Reflection on the Verse

41:30 and 43:68 remove the same two burdens: fear and grief. With the good news of Paradise comes the promise that there will be no fear and no grief. 43:70 ends with a direct command to rejoice.

These verses tell me that the emotions of this life are not eternal. Here there is fear. Here there is loss. Here there are tears. Here there is the anxiety of waiting for something and the grief of not receiving it. The Hereafter is described as opening another condition in which fear and grief are gone.

That does not trivialize pain in this world. It gives pain a horizon.

41:31 continues with the promise of having what one wishes for. In my previous reflection on 53:24, I considered desire through this verse. Now another dimension stands out: the place in which desire is fulfilled is also presented beside the ending of fear and grief.

Paradise, then, is not only a list of material blessings for me. It is also the completion of emotional security. No fear of loss. No uncertainty over the future. No grief.

And the verse says: rejoice.

Perhaps the safest laughter is the laughter connected to GOD’s approval in that final joy.

Verse references: 41:30-31, 43:68-70.

18. The Result Written on Faces: Laughter, Joy, and Remorse

Verse

80:38 — Some faces on that day will be happy.

80:39 — Laughing and joyful.

80:40 — Other faces, on that day, will be covered with misery.

80:41 — Overwhelmed by remorse.

Reflection on the Verse

80:38-41 presents two kinds of faces. Some are happy, laughing and joyful. Others are covered with misery and overwhelmed by remorse.

Emotion is no longer hidden inside. It appears on the face.

These verses make me think about the faces we construct in worldly life. A person may not be well and still try to look perfectly happy. He chooses a photograph, smiles, performs strength. Another person hides grief. Social life cannot always see what is behind the face.

In the Hereafter scene, however, the result appears on the face.

That also makes me think about display. A smiling face in this life is not automatic proof of inner peace. A crying face is not automatic proof of failure. Quick spiritual judgments based on appearance are unsafe.

Final joy cannot be manufactured through image management. The contrast in 80:38-41 ties what appears on the face to the final result before GOD.

I can spend enormous energy on how I look today. The verses ask another question: what will finally be written on the face?

Verse references: 80:38-41.

19. The Final Measure: Laughter and Tears Find Their Place Before GOD

Verse

53:42 — To your Lord is the final destiny.

53:43 — He is the One who makes you laugh or cry.

53:44 — He is the One who controls death and life.

53:47 — He will effect the recreation.

53:48 — He is the One who makes you rich or poor.

53:49 — He is the Lord of the galaxies.

Reflection on the Verse

When I read 53:42-49 as one movement, a large whole appears. The final destiny is to the Lord. He makes us laugh or cry. He controls death and life. He will effect the recreation. He makes us rich or poor. He is the Lord of the galaxies.

Human laughter does not stand alone in this sequence. Life, death, recreation, provision, and galaxies are tied to the same GOD.

For me, this is a deeply personal face of monotheism. GOD is not only the answer to large metaphysical questions. His lordship reaches the inner life of a human being. However much I plan, I cannot control every cause in my life. I do not know in advance every moment in which I will laugh or cry. A phone call, a message, loss, or good news can change a day completely.

But the center given by the verse does not change.

I do not want this realization to make me emotionally numb. I want it to make me more real. To laugh when I laugh. To cry when I cry. But to forget GOD in neither state.

Not turning laughter into arrogance.

Not turning tears into an idol of despair.

Not making another person the absolute owner of my joy.

Not making another person the absolute owner of my pain.

Giving thanks in joy, calling upon GOD in fear, turning grief toward Him, softening before revelation, and remembering that the final destiny is to my Lord.

For me, the answer to 53:43 is now simple and inexhaustibly deep:

Who makes us laugh and cry?

He does.

Verse references: 53:42-49.

A Reflection on Arabic Roots

The verb أَضْحَكَ (aḍḥaka) in 53:43 belongs to the root family ض ح ك (ḍ-ḥ-k), associated with laughing and causing laughter. In the same verse, أَبْكَىٰ (abkā) belongs to the root family ب ك ي (b-k-y), associated with weeping and causing weeping. The forms used in the verse strongly place the causing of both actions with GOD. Yet root analysis should not be used to build an independent religious doctrine over the explicit translation. Rashad Khalifa’s Authorized English Translation gives the controlling wording directly: “He is the One who makes you laugh or cry.”

In 53:44, أَمَاتَ (amāta) is related to the root family م و ت (m-w-t), while أَحْيَا (aḥyā) is related to ح ي ي (ḥ-y-y). The Authorized English Translation renders the verse: “He is the One who controls death and life.” The position of this verse immediately after laughing and crying keeps emotion inside the larger frame of life itself.

In 53:48, أَغْنَىٰ (aghnā) is connected with the root family غ ن ي (gh-n-y), while أَقْنَىٰ (aqnā) is connected with ق ن ي (q-n-y). Rashad Khalifa’s Authorized English Translation renders the pair as: “He is the One who makes you rich or poor.” Rather than replacing the Authorized English Translation with competing lexical possibilities, I find it safer to let the authorized wording remain the primary measure.

The word رَبُّ (rabb) in 53:49 is associated with the root family ر ب ب (r-b-b) and appears in the Authorized English Translation as “Lord.” “He is the Lord of the galaxies” expands the scale of 53:43 without removing its intimacy. Root study can help make the word-world of the passage more visible, but it does not replace the verse.

Other Claims

Traditional commentaries on 53:43 place different emphases on the verse. A commentary attributed to Ibn Kathir explains the verse by saying that GOD created laughter, crying, and their causes in His servants. That approach treats the verse not only as a statement about events that make people happy or sad, but also about the capacity and causes of laughter and tears. One accessible collection is here: 53:43 tafsir collection.

Other commentaries describe the many influences surrounding a human being and understand the verse as attributing both those emotional experiences and their created causes to GOD. Some readings also connect the verse more strongly with joy and sorrow in the Hereafter.

These claims can offer additional historical perspectives, but they do not determine the main argument of this article. The reflection above is built from Rashad Khalifa’s Authorized English Translation, the Turkish translation of the Authorized English Translation, and the explicit relationships among the verses used here. I do not want to turn any external commentary into certainty about the exact reason behind every individual laugh or tear.

Conclusion

“He is the One who makes you laugh or cry.”

After sitting with this verse, I cannot look at laughter and tears in exactly the same way.

It is easy to say, “This person made me laugh,” or “That event made me cry.” Those sentences may describe the immediate cause. They do not give the final attribution of 53:43.

GOD makes us laugh and cry.

Immediately afterward, the passage says He controls death and life. Recreation is tied to Him. Wealth and poverty are tied to Him. He is the Lord of the galaxies.

That larger frame frees my emotional life from absolute dependence on people. Someone may bring me joy, and I can thank that person. But I do not make that person the god of my blessing. Someone may hurt me, and I can set boundaries, seek justice, and distance myself when necessary. But I do not hand that person the position of eternal owner over my soul.

Jacob’s tears show me that grief does not cancel faith. 17:109 and 19:58 show tears joining prostration. 53:60 warns that laughter can occur in the wrong place. 83:29-36 shows that mocking laughter is not the measure of truth. 13:28 tells me that hearts rejoice in remembering GOD. 21:90 describes calling upon GOD in joy and in fear. 43:68-70 opens a final horizon in which fear and grief disappear and rejoicing is commanded.

From all of this, one correction becomes especially important to me: emotion is not religious authority.

Feeling very good does not prove that what I am doing is right.

Feeling terrible does not prove that GOD has abandoned me.

Crying is not automatic proof of weakness.

Laughing is not automatic proof of righteousness.

I do not want to deny emotion. I also do not want to place emotion above revelation.

When I laugh, I want to remember gratitude.

When I cry, I want to bring grief to GOD as Jacob did.

If a verse shakes my heart, I want tears to move toward prostration rather than display.

If success comes, I do not want it to become pride.

If loss comes, I do not want it to become total despair.

I do not want to treat the ridicule of people as the measure of truth.

And whatever I feel, I do not want to forget that the final destiny is to my Lord.

Perhaps emotional freedom is not found in never crying or in always laughing. It is found in knowing the Owner of both laughter and tears.

I laugh.

I cry.

But I am not the absolute owner of either.

He is the One who makes you laugh or cry.

All previous reflections: Quran Reflections archive

Note

2:32 — They said, “Be You glorified, we have no knowledge, except that which You have taught us. You are the Omniscient, Most Wise.”

GOD knows best.

Source: kuranteyit.com