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Surah 112 · Makkah · 4 āyāt
Phase 02 · Going public — and the persecution(c. 10–8 BH) — view in timelineAl-IkhlāṣSincerity / Purity [of Faith]
الإخلاص
A short, dense Makkan surah answering a direct question about the nature of Allah with four terse statements that together form a complete creed: He is one, He is the one relied upon by all, He begets not nor is begotten, and nothing is comparable to Him. The Prophet ﷺ described it as equal in weight to a third of the Qur'an.
Why it was revealed
The mushrikūn of Makkah — variously reported as a group of Quraysh, or Jewish questioners, or Christian delegates — asked the Prophet ﷺ to describe the lineage or attributes of his Lord: 'Describe your Lord to us.' Al-Wāḥidī and al-Ṭabarī transmit more than one version of who asked, with differing chains; the exact identity of the questioners is not established with certainty, though the general setting — a demand that he ﷺ characterise Allah in terms comparable to their own deities or genealogies — is widely reported in the tafsīr literature.
Ubayy ibn Kaʿb رضي الله عنه reported that the mushrikūn said to the Prophet ﷺ, 'Muhammad, describe your Lord to us (unsub lanā rabbaka).' So Allah sent down: 'Say, He is Allah, [who is] One...' to the end of the surah.
Al-Tirmidhī (as related from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb); al-Wāḥidī, Asbāb al-Nuzūl; al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān on 112:1 — cited with more than one chain and wording, so the report should be taken as indicating the general occasion rather than a single fixed, verified narrative.In the Prophet's ﷺ life
The question: 'Describe your Lord to us'
The disbelievers of Quraysh pressed the Prophet ﷺ to characterise Allah the way they characterised their idols — with lineage, substance, and comparison. The surah's four lines answer precisely that demand, and nothing more.
Recalled in āyah 1, 2, 3, 4
قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
Say, 'He is Allah, [who is] One,
ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ
Allah, the Eternal Refuge [al-Ṣamad].
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
He neither begets nor is born,
وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ
Nor is there to Him any equivalent.'
Al-Tirmidhī on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb; al-Wāḥidī, Asbāb al-Nuzūl
He is Allah, One
The command 'Say' opens the answer: Huwa Allāhu aḥad — He is Allah, [who is] uniquely One. Aḥad negates any sharing in His essence, attributes, or actions — a stronger, more absolute negation than wāḥid (one, as opposed to two).
قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
Say, 'He is Allah, [who is] One,
From the tafsīr
Aḥad here means the One who has no peer, no equal, and no like in His essence, His attributes, or His actions — a completeness of oneness that admits no partner whatsoever.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Aḥad is used of Allah in a manner not used for creation, because it denies any multiplicity or division within Him, whereas wāḥid can be said of anything singular, even something composed of parts.
— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān
Key takeaways
- The surah opens with a command to speak — tawḥīd is meant to be declared, not merely believed privately.
- Aḥad is a stronger negation of partnership than wāḥid: it rules out likeness in essence, attributes, and acts.
- This single word answers the whole demand to 'describe' Allah by describing what He is not shared in.
Reflect
Where in your daily reliance do you unconsciously treat something else as sharing in Allah's role?
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Question 1 of 2
Why does the surah begin with a command to speak?
Question 2 of 2
Why does the surah use aḥad rather than wāḥid to describe Allah?
Allāhu-ṣ-Ṣamad — the One depended upon by all
Al-Ṣamad describes the Master to whom all creation turns in every need, while He Himself needs nothing and no one. It is a name that expresses both His self-sufficiency and everyone else's total dependence on Him.
ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ
Allah, the Eternal Refuge [al-Ṣamad].
From the tafsīr
Al-Ṣamad is the Master whose mastery is complete, the Noble whose nobility is complete — the One to whom all creatures turn in their needs and afflictions.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
The early exegetes differed in wording but agreed on the sense: al-Ṣamad is He who is sought by all in every need, while He is free of any need Himself — a meaning gathered from multiple reports rather than a single fixed definition.
— Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān
Key takeaways
- Ṣamad joins two truths in one word: total self-sufficiency in Him, total dependence in everyone else.
- Because He needs nothing, turning to Him in need loses Him nothing and costs you nothing He begrudges.
- The early scholars offered several close paraphrases of al-Ṣamad rather than one exact synonym — the richness of the word resists a single translation.
Reflect
In your hardest moment this week, who or what did you actually turn to first?
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How is al-Ṣamad best understood in āyah 2?
He begets not, nor was He begotten
A direct rejection of the claims of those who attributed offspring to Allah — whether angels called 'daughters of Allah' by the mushrikūn, or the Christian claim of a begotten son, or the Jewish claim regarding ʿUzayr. Begetting implies need, division, and likeness to created things, all of which are impossible for Him.
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
He neither begets nor is born,
From the tafsīr
He did not beget, for nothing resembles Him, and He was not begotten, for nothing precedes Him or brought Him into being — this verse answers those among the Arabs, the Christians, and the Jews who each attributed a form of offspring to Allah.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Begetting belongs to things that reproduce and pass away, replaced by their offspring; Allah is exalted above needing successors or having a origin from which He came.
— Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān
Key takeaways
- This āyah rules out claims made by more than one group in the Prophet's ﷺ time who attributed a child to Allah in some form.
- Begetting entails likeness, division, and continuity through another — all incompatible with Allah's oneness.
- The verse is a correction, not an invention: it responds to real claims that were current at the time.
Reflect
How does affirming that Allah has no partner or offspring change how you view His mercy toward you directly, with no intermediary needed?
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Why is 'He begets not' significant as a description of Allah?
Nothing is comparable to Him
The closing statement seals the surah: wa lam yakun lahū kufuwan aḥad — there is none equal, like, or comparable to Him in any respect. It gathers what came before into a single, final negation of any likeness whatsoever.
وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ
Nor is there to Him any equivalent.'
From the tafsīr
There is nothing similar to Him, nothing equal to Him, and nothing comparable to Him in His essence, His names, His attributes, or His actions.
— Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Kufuwan means an equal or a match — and the verse closes the surah by denying that any such match exists for Him in any respect at all.
— Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān
Key takeaways
- The surah's four statements move from His oneness, to His being depended upon, to the impossibility of offspring, to the impossibility of any equal at all — each closing off a different way creation tries to compare Him to itself.
- Denying any likeness to Allah is the foundation that keeps worship, supplication, and reliance directed to Him alone.
- This closing negation is comprehensive: no likeness in essence, name, attribute, or action.
Reflect
Which created thing — a person, an ability, a possession — most tempts you to treat it as though nothing else compares to it?
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What is denied in 'wa lam yakun lahū kufuwan aḥad'?
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Roots from this surah
Learn the three-letter root and you unlock every word built from it — across the whole Qur'an, not just this surah.
أ ح د
āyāt 1, 4oneness, uniqueness — a total, indivisible one that admits no partner
- أَحَدone, unique — used of Allah's essence
- وَاحِدone (in number)
- أَحَدِيَّةthe quality of uncompounded oneness
أ ل ه
āyāt 1, 2to be worshipped, to be a deity worthy of worship
- ٱللَّهAllah, the [one true] God
- إِلٰهa god, an object of worship
- تَأَلُّهdevotion in worship
ص م د
āyāt 2to aim for, to turn to for a need; a master relied upon by all
- صَمَدthe One depended upon absolutely
- صَمَدَ إِلَيْهِhe turned to him, sought him out
- سَيِّد صَمَدa chief who is turned to in every matter
و ل د
āyāt 3to give birth, to beget, to bring forth offspring
- وَلَدَhe begot
- وُلِدَhe was born
- وَلَدchild, offspring
- وَالِدfather, begetter
ك ف أ
āyāt 4to be equal, matched, or comparable to something
- كُفُؤan equal, a match
- كَفَاءَةequivalence, suitability
- تَكَافُؤmutual equivalence
ك و ن
āyāt 4to be, to exist, to come into being
- كَانَhe was, it was
- يَكُونhe is, it is (ongoing)
- كَوْنexistence, the created universe
ق و ل
āyāt 1to say, to speak, to state
- قَالَhe said
- قَوْلa saying, a statement
- قِيلit was said
Carry this with you
- Tawḥīd is meant to be declared aloud, not only held privately in the heart.
- Aḥad denies Allah any partner, equal, or likeness in essence, attributes, or actions.
- Because Allah is al-Ṣamad, every creature depends on Him while He depends on none.
- Attributing offspring to Allah — in whatever form — is rejected outright by this surah.
- Nothing in creation is comparable to Him in any respect whatsoever.
- The surah answers a direct question with a direct, unembellished description — sincerity in belief mirrors sincerity in speech.
- The Prophet ﷺ taught that this surah equals a third of the Qur'ān because it is pure knowledge of Allah.
- Loving to recite this surah was itself praised by the Prophet ﷺ as a sign of love for Allah.
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Al-Ikhlāṣ · Allāhu-ṣ-Ṣamad — the One depended upon by all
How is al-Ṣamad best understood in āyah 2?
Arabic (Uthmānī script) and the Ṣaḥīḥ International translation are fetched live from the Quran.com API (v4), sourced from the King Fahd Complex muṣḥaf — api.quran.com API docs · Translation: Ṣaḥīḥ International · Integrity & testing protocol