Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:6
It is He who forms you in the wombs however He wills. There is no deity except Him, the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
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 His word: "He it is who shapes you in the wombs as He wills" (3:6)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means, exalted is His praise: Allah is the One who shapes you and forms you into figures and forms in the wombs of your mothers, as He wills and is pleased to do. Thus He makes this one a man and that one a woman, and this one black and that one red. By this He makes His servants know that all who are enclosed by the wombs of women belong to those whom He has shaped and created as He willed, and that ʿĪsā, the son of Maryam, belongs to those whom He shaped in the womb of his mother and whom He created therein as He willed and was pleased to do. Had he been a god, he would not belong to those who were enclosed by the womb of his mother, for the Creator of what is in the wombs cannot be enclosed by the wombs; the wombs enclose only the created. As:
6567 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to me, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr: "He it is who shapes you in the wombs as He wills," that is: ʿĪsā belonged to those who were shaped in the wombs — they do not refute that nor deny it — just as the other children of Ādam were shaped. How then can he be a god, while he was in that position?
6568 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "He it is who shapes you in the wombs as He wills," that is: that He shaped ʿĪsā in the womb as He willed.
* * *
Others said the following concerning this:
6569 - Mūsā ibn Hārūn related this to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, 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 al-Hamdānī, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ — concerning His word: "He it is who shapes you in the wombs as He wills," he said: When the sperm-drop falls into the wombs, it spreads through the body for forty days, then it becomes a blood-clot (ʿalaqa) for forty days, then it becomes a lump of flesh (muḍgha) for forty days. Then, when it reaches the stage at which it is to be created, Allah sends an angel who shapes it. The angel brings dust between his two fingers and mixes it into the lump of flesh, kneads it therewith, and then shapes it as he is commanded. He says: Male or female? Wretched or happy? What is its provision? What is its lifespan? What are its deeds? What are its afflictions? Allah then speaks, and the angel writes it down. When that body dies, it is buried in the place from which that dust was taken.
6570 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "He it is who shapes you in the wombs as He wills," by Allah, our Lord is able to shape His servants in the wombs as He wills, male or female, or black or red, with a complete creation or an incomplete one.
* * *
The explanation of His word: "There is no god but He, the Almighty, the All-Wise" (3:6)
Abū Jaʿfar said: This word is a declaration by Allah, exalted is His mention, that He has in His sovereignty no equal or likeness, and that divinity belongs to none other than He — and a refutation by Him of those who said concerning ʿĪsā what they said, namely the delegation of Najrān who came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and of all who held concerning ʿĪsā an opinion similar to theirs, and of all who claimed an object of worship besides Allah, or attributed the sovereignty to another. Then He, exalted is His praise, conveyed to His creation His attribute, as a threat from Him to whoever worships another besides Him, or associates anyone other than Him in His worship. Thus He said: "He is the Almighty" — the One against whom no one can help whoever wishes to escape His retribution, and whom no refuge and no shelter can save from Him. That is on account of His omnipotence, before which every creature humbles itself and to which every existing being submits. Then He let them know that He is "the All-Wise" in His disposition and in providing excuse to His creation, and in establishing His proofs against them, so that whoever of them perishes might perish upon a clear proof, and whoever lives might live upon a clear proof. As:
6571 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr, he said: Then He said — namely the Lord, mighty and exalted is He — as a glorification of Himself and an affirmation of His oneness against what they set up besides Him: "There is no god but He, the Almighty, the All-Wise." He said: The Almighty in His retribution against whoever denies Him when He wills, and the All-Wise in His excuse and proof to His servants.
6572 - 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: "There is no god but He, the Almighty, the All-Wise," he says: Almighty in His vengeance, All-Wise in His disposition.