Tafsir of Surah al Ikhlas – Purity of Faith (Surah 112)

1) Say: He is Allah, the One and only. 2) Allah, the Everlasting Sustainer of all. 3) He has not given birth, nor was He born. 4) There is none comparable to Him.

“Say,” with certainty, believing it and understanding its meaning, “He is Allah, the One and only,” Oneness is something unique to Him and He is one in every sense. He is one, singular in His perfection, having the Most Beautiful Names and perfect Lofty Attributes coupled with pure deeds. There is nothing comparable to Him or like Him. “Allah, the Everlasting Sustainer of all,” the one who is sought for the fulfilment of all needs. The inhabitants of the lower and upper world all stand in need of him in the direst of ways. They ask Him for their needs and they place their hope in Him to fulfil their desires. This is because His qualities and attributes are perfect: He is the All-Knowing whose knowledge is perfect, the Forbearing whose forbearance is perfect, and the Most-Merciful whose mercy encompasses everything. The same applies to all His Attributes. Part of His perfection is that “He has not given birth, nor was He born,” because He has absolutely no need of anything and “there is none comparable to Him,” not in His Names, or His Attributes or His actions. Blessed and Exalted is He!

This chapter focuses on Tawhid al-Asma’ wa’l-Sifat.

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Endnotes

Ahmad records that the polytheists asked the Prophet ﷺ, “Muhammad! Tell us the lineage of your Lord.” So Allah revealed,

“Say: He is Allah, the One and only. Allah, the Everlasting Sustainer of all. He has not given birth, nor was He born. There is none comparable to Him.”

Bukhari records from `A’ishah who said,

“ “The Prophet ﷺ sent a man as the commander of a war expedition and he used to lead his companions in prayer with recitation (of the Qur’an) and he would complete his recitation by reciting ‘Say: He is Allah, the One and only.’ When they returned they mentioned this to the Prophet ﷺ and he said, “Ask him why he did that.” They asked him and he replied, ‘It contains the description of the All-Merciful and I love to recite it.’ So the Prophet ﷺ said, “Inform him that Allah, Most High, loves him also.”

Bukhari records from Abu Sa`id that,

“ A man heard another reciting “Say: He is Allah, the One and only” repeating it over and over again. When morning came, the man went to the Prophet ﷺ and mentioned this to him, and it was as though he thought it insignificant. The Prophet ﷺ said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul, it is equivalent to a third of the Qur’an.”

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