I have been reading the Tafsir of Surah Ikhlas, and been blown away, as always, by the Quran’s ability to convey its message with such a beautiful economy of words.
The Arabs of Makkah asked Mohammad (SAW),
‘Tell us of the ancestry of your Lord.’
‘Is He made of gold, silver or iron?’
So Allah commanded the Prophet (SAW) to tell them,
هُوَ اللَّهُ, He is Allah
I am not asking you to worship a new God. You already know the One I am asking you to worship, the One you call Allah. He is the One you believe created the Universe and created you; the One you believe sends down rainwater; the One you say sustains everything in the Heavens and on earth; the One you turn to in times of calamity; the One you know to bestow life and death.
Now the Makkan Arabs did believe in the existence of Allah, but they had a corrupted view of Allah. They believed Him to be the Supreme God, but they also believed angels, jinn, and man-made idols shared in His divinity. These gods and goddesses, they believed, were their ‘intercessors with Him’ (10:18), who could bring them ‘closer to Allah’ (39:3).
To these gods they gave a shape and a body. Their gods ate food and drank water, which their devotees would prepare and offer them. They shaped these gods with their own hands, of stone, and wood, gold and silver. Hubal, the chief god of the Quraysh, was made of red agate, in the form of a man. When it came into their possession the right hand was broken off, and they made for it a hand of gold.
No wonder the Makkan Arabs asked the Prophet (SAW),
‘Is He made of gold, silver or iron?’
Their gods had wives and their goddess had husbands- they had children, brothers and sisters. Thus it was natural for them to assign children to Allah. They regarded the angels and also the three goddesses, al Laat, al Uzza, and Manaat, as ‘God’s daughters’. The Hejaz had shrines dedicated to the worship of these idols.
So of course they asked,
‘What is His ancestry?’
And though they believed in Allah as the Supreme God, He was not the object of their ritual worship. Instead the Arab polytheists called on these idols in times of hardship, made sacrifice in their name, and performed pilgrimage to them.
And when it came to the rules by which they lived? They knew al Laat, al Uzza, and Manaat had nothing to offer in the way of guidance, but nor did they believe Allah had any say in the day to day affairs of life. Instead they took their tribal chiefs as lawmakers, allowing them to decide the do’s and don’ts of life.
So the Prophet (SAW) was commanded to tell them, Allah is
أَحَدٌ , One
He has no partners, no helpers, no rivals. He has no second. He is indivisible. He alone is the Creator. He alone sustains and administers the Universe and all that it contains. He alone is God and Sovereign of all that exists. He alone is the One who is to be worshipped and obeyed.
The Prophet (SAW) was commanded to tell them, Allah is
الصَّمَدُ, the Eternal Refuge
He is ever-living. He has no beginning and no end. He is independent and self- subsisting; needing neither food nor drink. He is Perfect, free from weaknesses and flaws. He is the One man turns to in times of need and for fulfilment of his desires; the One who heals and cures. He is the Master of all creation, who has no superior and who has complete control, while all that is in the heavens and on earth are His servants.
The Prophet (SAW) was commanded to tell them,
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَد , He neither begets nor is born
He does not have any children, nor was He fathered. Allah, glory be to Him, has no spouse, no child, no parents.
The Prophet (SAW) was commanded to tell them,
وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ , and there is nothing comparable to Him
My Lord is not made of any type of thing. He is Unique; there is no one that resembles Allah in His attributes, His actions, His supremacy.
Surah Ikhlas with a few choice words clarified the nature of Allah. It made clear to the Arab polytheists that there is no God, but Allah, calling on them to discard all false gods and completely submit to the One whom they already acknowledged as their Creator.
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