Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:22
[He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him].
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 words of Him, whose praise is exalted: الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الأَرْضَ فِرَاشًا ("Who has made the earth a resting-place for you").
His words: "Who has made the earth a resting-place (firāsh) for you" are grammatically referred back to the first "Who" (alladhī) in His word اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ ("Worship your Lord who created you"). Both together are a further specification of "your Lord." It is as if He says: worship your Lord who created you, and who created those before you, and who has made the earth a resting-place for you. By this is meant that He has made the earth for you into a spread-out, levelled bed (mihād muwaṭṭaʾ) and into a dwelling-place upon which one settles. Our Lord — exalted is His mention — reminds His servants with this statement of His favours toward them and of His benefactions on their behalf, so that they may remember His benefactions toward them and thus turn to obedience to Him — out of affection on His part toward them, out of compassion from Him for them, and out of mercy for them, without His having any need of their worship, but so that He might complete His favour to them and so that they might perhaps be rightly guided.
475 – As Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī in a report mentioned by him, on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of people from the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "Who has made the earth a resting-place for you" — so it is a resting-place upon which one walks, and it is the bed (mihād) and the dwelling-place (qarār).
476 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda: "Who has made the earth a resting-place for you," he said: a bed (mihād) for you.
477 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: "Who has made the earth a resting-place for you," that is to say: a bed (mihād).
The explanation of His word: وَالسَّمَاءَ بِنَاءً ("and the heaven a structure").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The heaven (samāʾ) is called "samāʾ" only because of its loftiness (ʿuluww) above the earth and above its inhabitants among His creatures. And everything that is above something else is, for that which lies beneath it, a "samāʾ." For this reason the ceiling of the house is called "samāwa," because it rises above it. And for this reason one says: "samā fulān li-fulān" when someone rises toward another and directs himself toward him, towering high above him, as al-Farazdaq said:
"We rose (samawnā) toward Yemenite Najrān and its inhabitants, and Najrān is a land whose princes are not humbled."
And as Nābigha of the Banū Dhubyān said:
"A glance rose (samat) toward me, and I saw of her, beneath the litter-tent, that she was lowering the veil-curtain."
He means by this: a glance rose toward me and appeared. Likewise the heaven, in relation to the earth, is called "samāʾ," because of its loftiness and its rising above it.
478 – As Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī in a report mentioned by him, on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of people from the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "and the heaven a structure" — the structure of the heaven above the earth is like the form of a dome, and it is a ceiling above the earth.
479 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda concerning the word of Allah: "and the heaven a structure," he said: He made the heaven a ceiling for you.
The Exalted mentioned the heaven and the earth among the favours that He enumerates and with which He has graced them only because from both of them come their food, their sustenance, and their means of existence, and because by both their worldly life is maintained. So He let them know that the One who created both of them, and created everything that is in them and all the favours in which they find themselves, is the One who has a right to their obedience, and who deserves from them gratitude and worship — and not the idols and statues, which cause no harm and bring no benefit.
The explanation of the word of Allah, whose praise is exalted: وَأَنْـزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ رِزْقًا لَكُمْ ("and who has sent down water from the heaven and thereby brought forth fruits as sustenance for you").
The Exalted means by this that He has sent down rain from the heaven, and with that rain brought forth fruits from what they planted and sowed in the earth of their crops and their plantings — as sustenance (rizq) for them, as nourishment and food. He thereby pointed them to His power and His dominion, and reminded them thereby of His benefactions on their behalf, and that He is the One who created them, and He is the One who sustains them and provides for them — and not that which they made as a partner and equal to Him among the idols and gods. Then He restrained them from assigning Him an equal, while they knew that it is as He informed them, and that He has no equal and no peer, and that there is for them no benefactor and no harm-bringer and no creator and no provider besides Him.
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: فَلا تَجْعَلُوا لِلَّهِ أَنْدَادًا ("so do not assign to Allah equals").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The "andād" is the plural of "nidd," and the "nidd" is the peer and the equal, as Ḥassān ibn Thābit said:
"Do you satirize him, while you are no equal (nidd) of his? May the worse of you two be a ransom for the better of you two."
By his words "while you are no equal of his" he means: you are no equal and no peer of his. And everything that is the counterpart of a thing and resembling it, that is a "nidd" of it.
480 – As Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda: "so do not assign to Allah equals," that is to say: peers (ʿudalāʾ).
481 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to me, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "so do not assign to Allah equals," that is to say: peers (ʿudalāʾ).
482 – Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī in a report mentioned by him, on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of people from the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "so do not assign to Allah equals," he said: counterparts among the men whom you obey in disobedience to Allah.
483 – Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word of Allah: "so do not assign to Allah equals," he said: The "andād" are the gods which they made besides Him, and to which they assigned the same as what they assigned to Him.
484 – It was related to me on the authority of al-Minjāb, saying: Bishr related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His word: "so do not assign to Allah equals," he said: counterparts (ashbāh).
485 – Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of Shabīb, on the authority of ʿIkrima: "so do not assign to Allah equals" — that you say: "Had it not been for our dog, the thief would have entered the house," "Had it not been for our dog, someone would have shouted in the house," and the like.
Allah the Exalted thus forbade them from adding anything to Him as an associate (shirk), and from worshipping anything other than Him, or assigning Him an equal and a peer in obedience, and He said: Just as I have no associate in your creation, and in your sustenance with which I provide for you, and in My ownership of you, and in My favours with which I have graced you — so you must devote obedience exclusively to Me, and keep worship pure for Me, and assign Me no associate and no equal from My creation, for you know that every favour toward you comes from Me.
The explanation of His word: وَأَنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ (22) ("while you know").
The people of interpretation differed concerning who is intended by this verse:
Some of them said: By this all the polytheists (mushrikīn) are intended, both the Arab polytheists and the People of the Book.
And some of them said: By this the people of the two Books are intended, the people of the Torah and the Gospel.
The mention of those who said: By this all the idol-worshippers among the Arabs and the disbelievers among the people of the two Books are intended:
486 – Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama ibn al-Faḍl related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: That was revealed concerning both groups together, the disbelievers and the hypocrites. The Exalted meant by His word "so do not assign to Allah equals while you know" only: Do not assign to Allah any other than Him as an associate from among the equals that bring no benefit and cause no harm, while you know that there is for you no Lord who provides for you besides Him, and you already know that what the Messenger calls you to of His oneness (tawḥīd) is the truth concerning which there is no doubt.
487 – Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word: "while you know," that is to say: you know that Allah created you and created the heavens and the earth, and then you assign Him equals.
The mention of those who said: By this the people of the two Books are intended:
488 – Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Mujāhid: "so do not assign to Allah equals while you know" — that He is one God in the Torah and the Gospel.
489 – Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Qabīṣa related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.
490 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "while you know," he says: while you know that He has no equal in the Torah and the Gospel.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And I suspect that what brought Mujāhid to this interpretation, and to attributing it to the fact that it is an address directed to the people of the Torah and the Gospel and no one else, was his supposition that the Arabs did not know that Allah was their Creator and their Provider, because of their denial of the oneness of their Lord and their adding another to Him as an associate in worship. And that is indeed a statement! But Allah, whose praise is exalted, has informed about them in His Book that they did acknowledge His oneness, except that in His worship they added as an associate what they added to it, for He — whose praise is exalted — said: وَلَئِنْ سَأَلْتَهُمْ مَنْ خَلَقَهُمْ لَيَقُولُنَّ اللَّهُ ("And if you were to ask them who created them, they would surely say: Allah") [Surah al-Zukhruf: 87]. And He said: قُلْ مَنْ يَرْزُقُكُمْ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالأَرْضِ أَمَّنْ يَمْلِكُ السَّمْعَ وَالأَبْصَارَ وَمَنْ يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ وَمَنْ يُدَبِّرُ الأَمْرَ فَسَيَقُولُونَ اللَّهُ فَقُلْ أَفَلا تَتَّقُونَ ("Say: Who provides for you from the heaven and the earth, or who has power over hearing and sight, and who brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living, and who governs the affair? They will say: Allah. Then say: Will you not then fear?") [Surah Yūnus: 31].
So that which is most fitting for the interpretation of His word "while you know" — since the knowledge that the Arabs possessed concerning the oneness of Allah, and that He is the originator of creation and its Creator and its Provider, was similar to that which the people of the two Books possessed of it, and since there was in the verse no indication that Allah, whose praise is exalted, by His word "while you know" intended one of the two parties, but rather the import of that address is general and encompasses people entirely and altogether, because He challenged all people with His word يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ ("O people, worship your Lord") — is that its interpretation is what Ibn ʿAbbās and Qatāda said, namely that by it He intends every person who is charged with responsibility and knows the oneness of Allah, and knows that He has no associate in His creation, and who nevertheless adds another beside Him as an associate in His worship — whoever this person among the people may be, whether he is an Arab or a non-Arab, lettered or unlettered, even though the address was directed to the disbelievers among the People of the Book who were around the abode of the emigration (hijra) of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the hypocrites among them, and those in their midst who were polytheists and who, with the coming of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, passed over into hypocrisy.