Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:117
Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, "Be," and it is.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ (The Originator of the heavens and the earth)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His praise — means by His words (badīʿ al-samāwāt wa-l-arḍ): their originator (mubdiʿuhā).
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In reality it is the form "mufʿil" that has been transformed into the form "faʿīl," just as "al-muʾlim" was transformed into "alīm" (painful), and "al-musmiʿ" into "samīʿ" (hearing). The meaning of "al-mubdiʿ" is: the one who calls a thing into existence and brings it about, without anyone having preceded him in bringing about or originating anything comparable. For this reason, the one who introduces a novelty into the religion is called "mubtadiʿ" (innovator), because he brings about therein something in which no one has preceded him. Likewise: everyone who brings about a deed or an utterance in which no predecessor has preceded him — the Arabs call him "mubtadiʿ." To this belongs the saying of al-Aʿshā of the Banū Thaʿlaba, in his panegyric upon Hawdha ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥanafī:
"He gives heed to the word of the leaders of men, when they disclose to him the wise counsel, or he brings forth what he wishes (ibtadaʿā)."
That is to say: he brings about what he wills. To this also belongs the saying of Ruʾba ibn al-ʿAjjāj:
"O you who traverse the distant regions, hastening onward, if you are for Allah the God-fearing, the most obedient, then it is not the way of truth that you innovate (tabaddaʿā)."
He means: that you bring about in the religion something that was not therein.
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The meaning of the saying is thus: Glory be to Allah! How could He have a child, while He is the possessor of all that is in the heavens and the earth, all of which bear witness for Him by their indication of His oneness (waḥdāniyya), and which testify to Him their obedience, while He is their originator and creator, who called them into existence without any original raw material and without any model that He followed?
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This is a notification from Allah — exalted be His praise — to His servants, that among those who bear witness to this for Him is also the Masīḥ (Messiah), whose sonship they ascribed to Allah — exalted be His praise; and it is an announcement from Him to them, that the One who originated the heavens and the earth without any original raw material and without any model is the same One who originated the Masīḥ by His power without a father. And in the spirit of what we have said concerning this, a number of the people of exegesis have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
1858 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning (badīʿ al-samāwāt wa-l-arḍ): he says: He originated their creation, and no one had any share with Him in their creation.
1859 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning (badīʿ al-samāwāt wa-l-arḍ): he says: He originated them and created them, and before them nothing had been created upon which they might be modeled.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَإِذَا قَضَى أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ (117) (And when He decrees a matter, He only says to it: "Be," and it is) (2:117)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His praise — means by His words (wa-idhā qaḍā amran): and when He determines a matter and conclusively settles it.
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The basic meaning of every "qaḍāʾ amr" (decreeing of a matter) is: the determining of it and the completing of it therewith. To this belongs the fact that the judge among the people is called "al-qāḍī" (the one who adjudicates) between them, because of his settling of the judgment between the disputing parties, and his definitive decision of the judgment between them and his completing of it. To this belongs the fact that it is said of the dead person: "qad qaḍā" (he has finished), meaning thereby that he is done with this world and has been separated from it. To this belongs the saying: "mā yanqaḍī ʿajabī min fulān" (my amazement at so-and-so does not cease), meaning thereby: does not cease. To this belongs the saying: "taqaḍḍā al-nahār" (the day has passed), when it has come to an end. To this belongs the saying of Allah — Mighty and Exalted: وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ أَلا تَعْبُدُوا إِلا إِيَّاهُ [Surah Al-Isrāʾ: 23] (And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him), that is to say: He has settled the judgment concerning that among His servants, by commanding them thereto. Likewise His saying: وَقَضَيْنَا إِلَى بَنِي إسْرائِيلَ فِي الْكِتَابِ [Surah Al-Isrāʾ: 4] (And We made known to the Children of Israel in the Book), that is to say: We caused them to know that and informed them concerning it, and thus conveyed it to them completely. To this belongs the saying of Abū Dhuʾayb:
"And upon them both were two coats of mail, which David fashioned, or the maker of the ample armor, Tubbaʿ."
It is also transmitted as:
"And they wielded by turns two coats of mail, which he fashioned."
By his words "qaḍāhumā" he means: he fashioned them soundly. To this belongs the saying of another, in his panegyric upon ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb — may Allah be pleased with him:
"You completed matters (qaḍayta), and thereafter you left behind calamities, still unopened in their buds."
It is also transmitted as "bawāʾij" (disasters).
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As for His saying (fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn): thereby He means: and when He determines a matter and conclusively settles it, He only says to that matter "Be" (kun), and then that matter becomes as Allah commanded it to be and as He willed it.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone were to ask us: What is the meaning of His saying (wa-idhā qaḍā amran fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn)? And in what state does He say to the matter that He determines: "Be"? Is it in the state of its non-existence? — but that is a state in which His command cannot take place, since it is impossible for Him to command except that which is commanded, and when there is nothing commanded, the command is impossible; and just as a command is impossible without a commander, so too a command from a commander is impossible except to something that is commanded. Or does He say it to it in the state of its existence? — but that is a state in which His command to come into being cannot take place, because it has already come into being and exists, and one does not say to the existent "Be existent," except in a meaning other than the command for the coming-into-being of its essence?
The answer is: The exegetes have disputed concerning the meaning of that, and we shall report what they have said concerning it, and the arguments by which each group of them has supported its position concerning it:
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Some of them said: That is a notification from Allah — exalted be His praise — concerning His irrevocable command — by way of a determination upon him concerning whom He has issued a determination from among His already-existing creatures — that, when He commands him a matter, His determination therein takes effect and His command therein becomes operative. This is comparable to His command to those of the Children of Israel that they become despised apes, while they existed at the moment when He commanded them that and made His determination irrevocable upon them with what He decreed concerning them; and it is like the one who was swallowed up by the earth together with him and his house, and what resembles that of His command and determination upon those of His creatures who existed at the moment of His irrevocable command to them.
The adherents of this view thus directed His saying (wa-idhā qaḍā amran fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn) to the particular (al-khuṣūṣ) and not to the general (al-ʿumūm).
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And others said: No, the verse in its outward meaning is general, and it is not for anyone to deflect it to a hidden meaning without a proof to which one must submit. And he said: Allah knows all that will be before it exists. And since that is so, the things that did not yet exist — but which are existent by virtue of His knowledge of them before their existence — are equal to the things that do exist. Therefore it is permissible for Him to say to them: "Be," and to command them to pass over from the state of non-existence to the state of existence, because they are all present before Him, and because of His knowledge of them in the state of non-existence.
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And others said: No, even though the outward meaning of the verse is that of generality, yet its interpretation is the particular, because the command cannot take place except to something that is commanded, as I have described earlier. They said: And since that is so, the interpretation of the verse is: and when He determines a matter, such as bringing a dead thing to life, or causing a living thing to die, and the like, then He only says to a living thing: "Be dead," or to a dead thing: "Be living," and what resembles that of command.
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And others said: No, that is from Allah — Mighty and Exalted — a notification concerning everything that He originates and calls into existence: that, when He determines it, creates it, and originates it, it is and exists — and there is therein, according to the adherents of this saying, no actual "utterance," except the existence of the created thing and the coming-into-being of the determined thing. They said: The saying of Allah — Mighty and Exalted — (wa-idhā qaḍā amran fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn) is only comparable to someone's saying: "So-and-so spoke with his head" and "he spoke with his hand," when he moves his head or beckons with his hand without saying anything. And as Abū al-Najm said:
"And she said to the belly: 'Join, join,' long ago, and so she became like the secluded stud-stallion, with sunken flank."
There is therein no actual utterance; he only meant that the back had united itself with the belly. And as ʿAmr ibn Ḥimama al-Dawsī said:
"And I have become like the vulture whose young have flown away; when he wishes to soar up, it is said to him: 'Fall down.'"
There is therein no actual utterance; it only means: when he wishes to fly, he falls down. And as another said:
"The basin filled up and said: 'Enough for me, hold steady, gently now, I have filled my belly.'"
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view concerning His saying (wa-idhā qaḍā amran fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn) is that one says: it is general, concerning everything that Allah has determined and created, because its outward meaning is that of generality, and it is not permissible to deflect the outward meaning to a hidden interpretation without proof, on account of what we have set forth in our book "Kitāb al-bayān ʿan uṣūl al-aḥkām." And since that is so: the command of Allah — Mighty and Exalted — to a thing, when He wills it to be called into existence, by His saying (kun) at the moment that He wills it to be brought into existence — the existence of that which He wills to call into existence and to bring into being does not precede His will for it, nor His command for it to be and to exist, nor does it lag behind it. It is therefore not permissible that the thing be thus commanded to exist and thus willed, except while it exists; nor that it exist, except while it is commanded to exist and thus willed. And comparable to His saying (wa-idhā qaḍā amran fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn) is His saying: وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ تَقُومَ السَّمَاءُ وَالأَرْضُ بِأَمْرِهِ ثُمَّ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ دَعْوَةً مِنَ الأَرْضِ إِذَا أَنْتُمْ تَخْرُجُونَ [Surah Al-Rūm: 25] (And among His signs is that the heaven and the earth stand fast by His command; then, when He calls you with one call from the earth, behold, you come forth) — namely that the coming forth of the people from their graves does not precede the call of Allah, nor lag behind it.
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And to whoever claims that His saying (wa-idhā qaḍā amran fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn) is particular in interpretation, with the argument that the commanding of the non-existent cannot take place, it is asked: does the call to the people of the graves concern the time before their coming forth from their graves, or after it? Or does it concern a particular group of the creation? Whichever view he holds, in the other case the same is imposed upon him.
And to those who claim that the meaning of His saying — exalted be His praise — (fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn) is comparable to someone's saying: "So-and-so spoke with his head or with his hand," when he moves it and beckons, and comparable to the saying of the poet:
"She says, when I spread her saddle-girth on the ground: 'Is this from now on his habit and my habit?'"
and what resembles that — to them it is said: they have hit upon neither the correct sense of the language, nor the Book of Allah, nor have they followed what the proofs have indicated to be correct. For to the adherents of that it is said: Allah — exalted be His mention — has informed concerning Himself that He, when He determines a matter, says to it: "Be." Do you then deny that He says that? If they deny it, they have rejected the Qurʾān and have departed from the religious community.
And if they say: No, we acknowledge it, but we claim that this is comparable to someone's saying: "The wall spoke and leaned over," while there is therein no actual utterance, but it is only a report concerning the leaning of the wall —
then it is said to them: Do you then permit that the one who reports concerning the wall that it leans should say: "The utterance of the wall, when it wishes to lean, is that it says thus, and then it leans over"?
If they permit that, they have departed from the known speech of the Arabs and have contradicted their usage and what is known in their language.
And if they say: that is not permissible,
then it is said to them: Allah — exalted be His mention — has informed them concerning Himself that His utterance to the thing, when He wills it, is that He says to it "Be," and then it is. Thus He has made known to His servants the utterance by which the thing comes into being, and has described it and affirmed it. And that, according to you, is not permissible in giving expression to something that has no speech and no clear utterance, such as someone's saying: "The wall spoke and leaned over." How then is it that they did not perceive therein the difference between the meaning of Allah's saying (wa-idhā qaḍā amran fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn) and someone's saying: "The wall spoke and leaned over"? For the exposition concerning the untenability of this view there is another place than this, where we shall — if Allah wills — conduct the argument concerning it in a sufficient manner.
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And since the matter regarding His saying — exalted be His praise — (wa-idhā qaḍā amran fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn) is as we have described, namely that the state of His commanding the thing to exist coincides with the state of the existence of that which is commanded to exist, then it is thereby clear that what is most fitting with His saying (fa-yakūn) is the nominative (rafʿ), as a coordination with His saying (yaqūlu), because the state of "the saying" and of "the being" is one and the same. It is comparable to someone's saying: "So-and-so repented and so was rightly guided," and "So-and-so was rightly guided and so repented," because he is not repentant except while he is rightly guided, nor rightly guided except while he is repentant. Likewise it is impossible that Allah command a thing to exist except while it exists, nor that it exist except while He commands it to exist.
For this reason, the one who deemed the accusative (naṣb) of "fa-yakūn" permissible also deemed it permissible to recite: إِنَّمَا قَوْلُنَا لِشَيْءٍ إِذَا أَرَدْنَاهُ أَنْ نَقُولَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونَ [Surah Al-Naḥl: 40] (Indeed, Our saying to a thing, when We will it, is that We say to it: "Be," and it is) — in the meaning that we have described, with the meaning: "that We say, so that it may be."
As for the one who recited that in the nominative: he was of the opinion that the report is complete at His saying إِذَا أَرَدْنَاهُ أَنْ نَقُولَ لَهُ كُنْ (when We will it, that We say to it: "Be"), since it is known that Allah, when He makes His determination irrevocable upon a thing, that which is irrevocably determined is existent. Then he began a new sentence with His saying: "fa-yakūn," just as He — exalted be His praise — said: لِنُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ وَنُقِرُّ فِي الأَرْحَامِ مَا نَشَاءُ [Surah Al-Ḥajj: 5] (That We may make it clear to you; and We cause to remain in the wombs what We will), and as Ibn Aḥmar said:
"He tends a barren she-camel that has proved too much for him, to impregnate her, and then he brings forth from her a young camel."
He means: and then, behold, he brings forth from her a young camel.
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The meaning of the verse is thus: And they said: "Allah has taken a child." Glory be to Him, exalted above having a child! Nay, He is the possessor of the heavens and the earth and what is in them; all of that acknowledges servitude (ʿubūdiyya) to Him by its indication of His oneness. And how could He have a child, while He is the One who originated the heavens and the earth without any original raw material, just as He originated the Masīḥ without a father, by His power and His authority, from which nothing that He wills is beyond reach! Nay, when He determines a thing and wills to bring it into existence, He only says to it: "Be," and then it is existent as He willed it and desired it. Such too was His originating of the Masīḥ and His bringing of him into being, when He willed to create him without a father.
