Surah 112. Al-Ikhlas

SAY: "He is the One God:

  - Mohammad Asad

Say: He is Allah the One and Only;

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Say, 'O Prophet,' 'He is Allah- One 'and Indivisible';

  - Mustafa Khattab

Say: He is Allah, the One!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Say: He is Allah the One and Only; ^{6296 6297}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The nature of Allah is here indicated to us in a few words, such as we can understand. The qualities of Allah are described in numerous places elsewhere, e.g., in lix. 22-24, lxii. 1, and ii. 255. Here we are specially taught to avoid the pitfalls into which men and nations have fallen at various times in trying to understand Allah. The first thing we have to note is that His nature is so sublime, so far beyond our limited conceptions, that the best way in which we can realise Him is to feel that He is a Personality, "He", and not a mere abstract conception of philosophy. He is near us; He cares for us; we owe our existence to Him. Secondly, He is the One and Only God, the Only One to Whom worship is due; all other things or beings that we can think of are His creatures and in no way comparable to Him. Thirdly, He is Eternal, without beginning or end, Absolute, not limited by time or place or circumstance, the Reality. Fourthly, we must not think of Him as having a son or a father, for that would be to import animal qualities into our conception of Him. Fifthly, He is not like any other person or thing that we know or can imagine: His qualities and nature are unique.

This is to negative the idea of Polytheism, a system in which people believe in gods many and lords many. Such a system is opposed to our truest and profoundest conceptions of life. For Unity in Design, Unity in the fundamental facts of existence, proclaim the Unity of the Maker.

"God the Eternal, the Uncaused Cause of All Being.¹

  - Mohammad Asad

This rendering gives no more than an approximate meaning of the term as-samad, which occurs in the Qur'an only once, and is applied to God alone. It comprises the concepts of Primary Cause and eternal, independent Being, combined with the idea that everything existing or conceivable goes back to Him as its source and is, therefore, dependent on Him for its beginning as well as for its continued existence.

Allah is the Self-Sufficient (independent of all, while all are dependent on Him);

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Allah- the Sustainer 'needed by all'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Allah, the eternally Besought of all!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Allah the Eternal Absolute; ⁶²⁹⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Samad is difficult to translate by one word. I have used two, "Eternal" and "Absolute". The latter implies: (1) that absolute existence can only be predicated of Him; all other existence is temporal or conditional; (2) that He is dependent on no person or things, but all persons or things are dependent on Him, thus negativing the idea of gods and goddesses who ate and drank, wrangled and plotted, depended on the gifts of worshippers, etc.

"He begets not, and neither is He begotten;

  - Mohammad Asad

He begets not, nor is He begotten;

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He has never had offspring, nor was He born.

  - Mustafa Khattab

He begetteth not nor was begotten.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

He begetteth not nor is He begotten; ⁶²⁹⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is to negative the Christian idea of the godhead, "the Father", "the only-begotten Son" etc.

"and there is nothing that could be compared with Him."²

  - Mohammad Asad

Cf. note [2] on 89:3 , as well as surah {19}, note [77]. The fact that God is one and unique in every respect, without beginning and without end, has its logical correlate in the statement that "there is nothing that could be compared with Him - thus precluding any possibility of describing or defining Him (see note [88] on the last sentence of 6:100 ). Consequently, the quality of His Being is beyond the range of human comprehension or imagination: which also explains why any attempt at "depicting" God by means of figurative representations or even abstract symbols must be qualified as a blasphemous denial of the truth.

And there is none comparable to Him.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And there is none comparable to Him.'¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 As mentioned in the Introduction, the Quran has three main themes: 1. Stories. 2. Muslim teachings. 3. And belief in the unseen. Since Sûrah 112 covers the third theme, the Prophet (ﷺ) says in a ḥadîth collected by Bukhâri and Muslim that reading this sûrah equals reading one third of the Quran.

And there is none comparable unto Him.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And there is none like unto Him. ⁶³⁰⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This sums up the whole argument and warns us specially against Anthropomorphism, the tendency to conceive of Allah after our own pattern, an insidious tendency that creeps in at all times and among all peoples.