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Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem
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Translators: Ahmed Ali ● Amatul Rahman Omar ● Daryabadi ● Faridul Haque ● Hamid S. Aziz ● Maulana Mohammad Ali ● Pickthall ● Sarwar ● Shakir ● Yusuf Ali
Recitation by Mishary Al-Alfasy
The first addressee of this command is the Prophet (peace be upon him)
himself for it was he who was asked: Who is your Lord and what is He like. Again
it was he who was commanded to answer the question in the following words. But
after him every believer is its addressee. He too should say what the Prophet
(peace be upon him) had been commanded to say.
That is, my Lord to Whom
you want to be introduced is none but Allah. This is the first answer to the
questions, and it means: I have not introduced a new lord who I want you to
worship beside all other gods, but it is the same Being you know by the name of
Allah. Allah was not an unfamiliar word for the Arabs. They had been using this
very word for the Creator of the universe since the earliest times, and they did
not apply this word to any of their other gods. For the other gods they used the
word ilah. Then their beliefs about Allah had become fully manifest at the time
Abraha invaded Makkah. At that time there existed 360 idols of gods (ilahs) in
and around the Kabah, but the polytheists forsaking all of them had invoked only
Allah for protection. In other words, they knew in their hearts that no ilah
could help them on that critical occasion except Allah. The Kabah was also
called Bait-Allah by them and not Baitilahs after their self-made gods. At many
places in the Quran the polytheistic Arabian belief about Allah has been
expressed, thus:
In Surah Az-Zukhruf it has been said: If you ask them
who created them, they will surely say, Allah. (verse 87).
In Surah
Al-Ankabuut: If you ask them, who has created the earth and the heavens and who
has subjected the moon and the sun. They will surely say: Allah. And if you ask
them, who sent down rainwater from the sky and thereby raised the dead earth
back to life. They will surely say: Allah. (verses 61-63).
In Surah
Al-Muminun: Say to them, tell me, if you know, whose is the earth and all who
dwell in it. They will say, Allah’s. Say to them: To whom do the seven heavens
and the Glorious Throne belong. They will say: To Allah. Say to them: Tell me,
if you know, whose is the sovereignty over everything. And who is that Being who
gives protection while none else can give protection against Him. They will
surely reply: This power belongs to Allah. (verses 84-89).
In Surah
Younus: Ask them: Who provides for you from the heavens and the earth. Who has
power over the faculties of hearing and sight. Who brings forth the living from
the dead and the dead from the living. Who directs the system of the universe.
They will surely reply: Allah. (verse 31).
Again in Surah Younus at
another place: When you set sails in ships, rejoicing over a fair breeze, then
all of a sudden a strong wind begins to rage against the passengers and waves
begin to surge upon them from every side and they realize that they have been
encircled by the tempest. At that time they pray to Allah with sincere faith,
saying: If you deliver us from this peril, we will become Your grateful
servants. But when He delivers them, the same people begin to rebel on the earth
against the truth. (verses 22-23).
The same thing has been reiterated in
Surah Bani Israil, thus: When a misfortune befalls you on the sea, all of those
whom you invoke for help fail you but He (is there to help you), yet when He
brings you safe to land, you turn away from Him. (verse 67).
Keeping
these verses in view, let us consider that when the people asked: Who is your
Lord and what is He like to Whom service and worship you call us. The answer
given was Huwa Allah: He is Allah. This answer by itself gives the meaning: My
Lord is He whom you yourself acknowledge as your own as well as the whole
world’s Creator, its Master, Sustainer and Administrator, and He whom you invoke
for help at critical times beside all other deities, and I invite you to His
service alone. This answer comprehends all the perfect and excellent attributes
of Allah. Therefore, it is not at all conceivable that the Creator of the
universe, its Administrator and Disposer of its affairs, Sustainer of all the
creatures living in it, and the Helper of the servants in times of hardship,
would not be living, hearing and seeing, that He would not be an All-Powerful,
All-Knowing, All- Wise, All-Merciful and All-Kind Sovereign.
The scholars
have explained the sentence Huwa-Allahu Ahad syntactically, but in our opinion
its explanation which perfectly corresponds to the context is that Huwa is the
subject and Allahu its predicate, and Ahad-un its second predicate. According to
this parsing the sentence means: He (about Whom you are questioning me) is
Allah, is One and only one. Another meaning can also be, and according to
language rules it is not wrong either: He is Allah, the One.
Here, the
first thing to be understood is the unusual use of ahad in this sentence.
Usually this word is either used in the possessive case as yaum ul-ahad (first
day of the week), or to indicate total negative as Ma jaa a-ni ahad-un (No one
has come to me), or in common questions like Hal indaka ahadun (Is there anyone
with you), or in conditional clauses like Injaa-ka ahad-un (If someone comes to
you), or in counting as ahad, ithnan, ahad ashar (one, two, eleven). Apart from
these uses, there is no precedent in the pre-Quranic Arabic that the mere word
ahad might have been used as an adjective for a person or thing. After the
revelation of the Quran this word has been used only for the Being of Allah, and
for no one else. This extraordinary use by itself shows that being single,
unique and matchless is a fundamental attribute of Allah; no one else in the
world is qualified with this quality: He is One, He has no equal.
Then,
keeping in view the questions that the polytheists and the followers of earlier
scriptures asked the Prophet (peace be upon him) about his Lord, let us see how
they were answered with ahad-un after Huwa-Allah.
First, it means: He
alone is the Sustainer: no one else has any share or part in providence and
since He alone can be the Ilah (Deity) Who is Master and Sustainer, therefore,
no one else is His associate in Divinity either.
Secondly, it also means
He alone is the Creator of the universe: no one else is His associate in this
work of creation. He alone is the Master of the universe, the Disposer and
Administrator of its system, the Sustainer of His creatures, Helper and Rescuer
in times of hardship; no one else has any share or part whatever in the works of
Godhead, which as you yourselves acknowledge, are works of Allah.
Thirdly, since they had also asked the questions: Of what is your Lord made?
What is His ancestry? What is his sex? From whom has He inherited the world and
who will inherit it after Him? All these questions have been answered with one
word ahad for Allah. It means:
(1) He alone has been, and will be, God
forever; neither was there a God before Him, nor will there be any after Him.
(2) There is no race of gods to which He may belong as a member: He is God,
One and Single, and none is homogeneous with Him.
(3) His being is not
merely One (wahid but ahad, in which there is no tinge of plurality in any way:
He is not a compound being, which may be analyzable or divisible, which may
have a form and shape, which may be residing somewhere, or may contain or
include something, which may have a color, which may have some limbs, which may
have a direction, and which may be variable or changeable in any way. Free from
every kind of plurality He alone is a Being who is Ahad in every aspect. (Here,
one should fully understand that the word wahid is used in Arabic just like the
word one in English. A collection consisting of great pluralities is
collectively called wahid or one, as one man, one nation, one country, one
world, even one universe, and every separate part of a collection is also called
one. But the word Ahad is not used for anyone except Allah. That is why wherever
in the Quran the word wahid has been used for Allah, He has been called Ilah
wahid (one Deity), or AllahulWahid- al-Qahhar (One Allah Who is Omnipotent), and
nowhere just wahid, for this word is also used for the things which contain
pluralities of different kinds in their being. On the contrary, for Allah and
only for Allah the word Ahad has been used absolutely, for He alone is the Being
Who exists without any plurality in any way, Whose Oneness is perfect in every
way.
The word used in the original is samad of which the root is smd. A
look at the derivatives in Arabic from this root will show how comprehensive and
vast this word is in meaning. (Lexical discussion of the meanings of the
derivatives is omitted).
On the basis of these lexical meanings the
explanations of the word as-Samad in the verse Allah-us-Samad, which have been
reported from the companions, their immediate successors and the later scholars
are given below:
Ali, Ikrimah and Kab Ahbar: Samad is he who has no
superior.
Abdullah bin Masud, Abdullah bin Abbas and Abu Wail Shaqiq bin
Salamah: The chieftain whose chieftaincy is perfect and of the most
extraordinary kind.
Another view of Ibn Abbas: Samad is he to whom the
people turn when afflicted with a calamity. Still another view of his: The
chieftain who in his chieftaincy, in his nobility and glory, in his clemency and
forbearance, in his knowledge and wisdom is perfect.
Abu Hurairah: He who
is independent of all and all others are dependent upon him.
Other views
of Ikrimah: He from whom nothing ever has come out, nor normally comes out, who
neither eats nor drinks. Views containing the same meaning have been related
from Shabi and Muhammad bin Kab al-Kurazi also.
Suddi: The one to whom
the people turn for obtaining the things they need and for help in hardships.
Saeed bin Jubair: He who is perfect in all his attributes and works.
Rabi bin Jubair: He who is immune from every calamity.
Muqatil bin
Hayyan: He who is faultless.
Ibn Kaysan: He who is exclusive in his
attributes.
Hasan Basri and Qatadah: He who is ever-living and immortal.
Similar views have been related from Mujahid, Mamar and Murrat alHamadani also.
Murrat al-Hamadani’s another view is: He who decides whatever he wills and
does whatever he wills, without there being anyone to revise his judgment and
decision.
Ibrahim Nakhai: He to whom the people turn for fulfillment of
their desires.
Abu Bakr al-Anbari: There is no difference of opinion
among the lexicographers that samad is the chief who has no superior and to whom
the people turn for fulfillment of their desires and needs and in connection
with other affairs. Similar to this is the view of Az-Zajjaj, who says Samad is
he in whom leadership has been perfected, and to whom one turns for fulfillment
of his needs and desires.
Now, let us consider why Allahu-Ahad has been
said in the first sentence and why Allah-us-Samad in this sentence. About the
word ahad we have explained above that it is exclusively used for Allah, and for
none else. That is why it has been used as ahad, in the indefinite sense. But
since the word samad is used for creatures also, Allall-us-Samad has been said
instead of Allah Samad, which signifies that real and true Samad is Allah alone.
If a creature is samad in one sense, it may not be samad in some other sense,
for it is mortal, not immortal; it is analyzable and divisible, is compound, its
parts can scatter away any time; some creatures are dependent upon it, and upon
others it is dependent; its chieftaincy is relative and not absolute; it is
superior to certain things and certain other things are superior to it; it can
fulfill some desires of some creatures but it is not in the power of any
creature to fulfill all the desires of all the creatures, On the contrary, Allah
is perfect in His attributes of Samad in every respect; the whole world is
dependent upon Him in its needs, but He is not dependent upon anyone; everything
in the world turns to Him, consciously or unconsciously, for its survival and
for fulfillment of the needs of everyone; He is Immortal and Ever-living; He
sustains others and is not sustained by anyone; He is Single and Unique, not
compound so as to be analyzable and divisible; His sovereignty prevails over
entire universe and He is Supreme in every sense. Therefore, He is not only
Samad but As-Samad, i.e. the Only and One Being Who is wholly and perfectly
qualified with the attribute of samad in the true sense.
Then, since He
is As-Samad, it is necessary that He should be Unique, One and Only, for such a
being can only be One, which is not dependent upon anyone and upon whom everyone
else may be dependent; two or more beings cannot be self-sufficient and
fulfillers of the needs of all. Furthermore, His being As-samad also requires
that He alone should be the Deity, none else, for no sensible person would
worship and serve the one who had no power and authority to fulfill the needs of
others.
The polytheists in every age have adopted the concept that like
men, gods also belong to a species, which has many members and they also get
married, beget and are begotten. They did not even regard Allah, Lord of the
universe, as supreme and above this concept of ignorance, and even proposed
children for Him. Thus, the Arabian belief as stated in the Quran was that they
regarded the angels as daughters of Allah. The Prophetic communities too could
not remain immune from this creed of paganism. They too adopted the creed of
holding one saintly person or another as son of God. Two kinds of concepts have
always been mixed up in these debasing superstitions. Some people thought that
those whom they regarded as Allah’s children, were descended from him in the
natural way and some others claimed that the one whom they called son of God,
had been adopted by Allah Himself as a son. Although they could not dare call
anyone as, God forbid, father of God, obviously human mind cannot remain immune
against such a concept that God too should be regarded as a son of somebody when
it is conceived that He is not free from sex and procreation and that He too,
like man, is the kind of being which begets children and needs to adopt a son in
case it is childless, That is why one of the questions asked of the Prophet
(peace be upon him) was: What is the ancestry of Allah, and another was: From
whom has He inherited the world and who will inherit it after Him.
If
these assumptions of ignorance are analyzed, it becomes obvious that they
logically necessitate the assumption of some other things as well.
First,
that God should not be One, but there should be a species of Gods, and its
members should be associates in the attributes, acts and powers of Divinity.
This not only follows from assuming God begetting children but also from
assuming that He has adopted someone as a son, for the adopted son of somebody
can inevitably be of his own kind. And when, God forbid, he is of the same kind
as God, it cannot be denied that he too possesses attributes of Godhead.
Second, that the children cannot be conceived unless the male and the female
combine and some substance from the father and the mother unites to take the
shape of child. Therefore, the assumption that God begets children necessitates
that He should, God forbid, be a material and physical entity, should have a
wife of His own species, and some substance also should issue from His body.
Third, that wherever there is sex and procreation, it is there because
individuals are mortal and for the survival of their species it is inevitable
that they should beget children to perpetuate the race. Thus, the assumption
that God begets children also necessitates that He should, God forbid, Himself
be mortal, and immortality should belong to the species of Gods, not to God
Himself. Furthermore, it also necessitates that like all mortal individuals, God
also, God forbid, should have a beginning and an end. For the individuals of the
species whose survival depends upon sex and procreation neither exist since
eternity nor will exist till eternity.
Fourth, that the object of
adopting some one as a son is that a childless person needs a helper in his
lifetime and an heir after his death. Therefore, the supposition that Allah has
adopted a son inevitably amounts to ascribing all those weaknesses to His
sublime Being which characterize mortal man.
Although all these
assumptions are destroyed as soon as Allah is called and described as Ahad and
As-Samad, yet when it is said: Neither has He an offspring nor is He the
offspring of another, there remains no room for any ambiguity in this regard.
Then, since these concepts are the most potent factors of polytheism with regard
to Divine Being, Allah has refuted them clearly and absolutely not only in Surah
Al-Ikhlas but has also reiterated this theme at different places in different
ways so that the people may understand the truth fully. For example let us
consider the following verses:
Allah is only One Deity: He is far too
exalted that He should have a son: whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in
the earth belongs to Him. (Surah An-Nisa, Ayat 171).
Note it well: they,
in fact, invent a falsehood when they say, Allah has children. They are utter
liars. (Surah As-Saaffat, Ayats 151-152).
They have invented a
blood-relationship between Allah and the angels, whereas the angels know well
that these people will be brought up (as culprits). (Surah As-Saaffat, Ayat
158).
These people have made some of His servants to be part of Him. The
fact is that man is manifestly ungrateful. (Surah Az-Zukhruf, Ayat l5).
Yet the people have set up the Jinn as partners with Allah, whereas He is their
Creator; they have also invented for Him sons and daughters without having any
knowledge, whereas He is absolutely free from and exalted far above the things
they say. He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth: how should He have
a son, when He has no consort? He has created each and every thing. (Surah
AlAnaam, Ayats 100-101).
They say: the Merciful has offspring. Glory be
to Allah! They (whom they describe as His offspring) are His mere servants who
have been honored. (Surah Al-Anbiya, Ayat 26).
They remarked: Allah has
taken a son to himself. Allah is All-pure: He is Self Sufficient. He is the
Owner of everything that is in the heavens and the earth. Have you any authority
for what you say? What, do you ascribe to Allah that of which you have no
knowledge. (Surah Younus, Ayat 68).
And (O Prophet) say: Praise is for
Allah who has begotten no son nor has any partner in His Kingdom nor is helpless
to need any supporter. (Surah Bani Israil, Ayat 111).
Allah has no
offspring, and there is no other deity as a partner with Him. (Surah Al-Muminun,
Ayat 91).
In these verses the belief of the people who ascribe real as
adopted children to Allah, has been refuted from every aspect, and its being a
false belief has also been proved by argument. These and many other Quranic
verses of the same theme further explain Surah Al-Ikhlas.
The word kufu
as used in the original means an example, a similar thing, the one equal in rank
and position. In the matter of marriage, kufu means that the boy and the girl
should match each other socially. Thus, the verse means that there is no one in
the entire universe, nor ever was, nor ever can be, who is similar to Allah, or
equal in rank with Him, or resembling Him in His attributes, works and powers in
any degree whatever.