The importance of Surah al-Ikhlas (Part 3)
”Allahu’s-samad” {Allah is the All-embracing}
”Samad” means impenetrable, indestructible and unchangeable.
He is samad. So, He is not material or corporeal because all corporeal things experience change and destruction with the passage of time. Thus, He has no body that can be seen by the eyes or such an attractive force that, though unseen, has corporeality.
He is samad, the Impenetrable Force whose will pervades and penetrates all things.
He is samad, the Indestructible, the Honorable from whom all honors come and whatever honor and power anyone has emanates from Him. He is not in need of anybody or anything but everything is in need of Him.
He is samad, the Absolute Perfect Being, nay the Absolute All-perfect being who possesses all excellences at the apex of their perfection. In order to attain perfection, all beings are in need of His grace, but He is and will not be in need of any being. His Command is above all other commands and His Will is above all other wills. He is in need of neither sleep nor assistance and partners in doing His work.
He is samad, and in a nutshell, He is the Needless God who is always needed by all.
”Lam yalid wa lam yulad” {He neither begat nor was begotten}
He is the Creator of all beings and is not the one who gave birth to them. His work is not reproduction such as ”reproducing Himself”. It is instead bringing something into being from non-being or nothing.
In the case of the mother who gives birth to a child, the infant belongs to her genus and is like her, i.e. a human. But with respect to God, it is impossible for an equal and similar being to be begotten by Him or for Him to have been begotten: ”Nothing is like Him.”(7)
This sentence is against the belief of the Christians who believe in ‘Isa (A.S) as the son of God, and treat him like God. In the same vein, this verse negates the belief of the polytheists who imagined that the angels were the daughters of God by saying: ”God has never begotten a child, whether a girl or a boy!”
Nothing is to be begotten unless that the one who begot is preeminent and superior to the begotten one, not to mention the fact that the one who begot existed prior to the begotten one!
His existence is not like the sprouting of the fruit from the flower; the tree from the seed; the water from the cloud; the fire from the wood. It is not like the emergence of words from the mouth; or the script from the pen. It is not like the emission of scent from the flower, or taste from food. It is not like the flashing of an idea from the mind, or intuition from the heart.
It is not like the appearance of heat from fire or cold from snow. He exists but is similar to nothing and no one. He is neither in anything nor is anything in Him. His relationship with things is not like that of a parent to his child. It is rather the relationship of the Creator {khaliq} with the creature {makhluq}.
Note:
(7): Surah ash-Shura 42:11.
By: Hojjat al-Islam Muhsin Qara’ati
Source: al-islam.org
Other links:
Tafsir Surah Al-Maarij (The Ways of Ascent)-part 1
Tafsir Surah Al-Maarij (The Ways of Ascent)-part 2
Tafsir Surah Al-Maarij (The Ways of Ascent)-part 3
Tafsir Surah Al-Maarij (The Ways of Ascent)-part 4
Tafsir Surah Al-Maarij (The Ways of Ascent)-part 5
