Tafseer of Luqman · Luqman · 31:28
Your creation and your resurrection will not be but as that of a single soul. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Seeing.
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 statement concerning the explanation of the words of the Exalted: مَا خَلْقُكُمْ وَلا بَعْثُكُمْ إِلا كَنَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ بَصِيرٌ ("Your creation and your resurrection are but as that of a single soul. Truly, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing") (31:28).
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: your creation, O people, and your resurrection are, for Allah, nothing other than the creation of a single soul and its resurrection. And that is because nothing that He wishes is impossible for Allah, and nothing that He wills is withheld from Him — إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئًا أَنْ يَقُولَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ ("Truly, His command, when He wills a thing, is that He says to it: 'Be!' and it is"). Thus equal is the creation of a single one and his resurrection, and the creation of the totality and their resurrection.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the scholars of exegesis have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his statement: كَنَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ ("as a single soul"), he said: "'Be!' and it is" — for the few and the many.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his statement: مَا خَلْقُكُمْ وَلا بَعْثُكُمْ إِلا كَنَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ ("Your creation and your resurrection are but as that of a single soul"), he said: he says: truly, Allah created all people and will resurrect them just like the creation of a single soul and its resurrection. And it is only correct to say "but as a single soul," while the meaning is "but as the creation of a single soul"; for the elided word is a verbal noun to which His statement مَا خَلْقُكُمْ وَلا بَعْثُكُمْ ("your creation and your resurrection") points. The Arabs do that with the verbal nouns (maṣādir), and to that belongs the statement of Allah: تَدُورُ أَعْيُنُهُمْ كَالَّذِي يُغْشَى عَلَيْهِ مِنَ الْمَوْتِ ("their eyes rolling like one who is overcome by death"), the meaning of which is: like the rolling of the eye of one who is overcome by death; and he did not mention the rolling and the eye, for the reason which I have described.
And his statement: إنَّ اللهَ سَمِيعٌ بَصِيرٌ ("Truly, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing"). The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: truly, Allah is Hearing what these polytheists (mushrikīn) say and what they fabricate concerning their Lord — namely their claim that He has partners and equals, and other statements of theirs and of others; Seeing what they perform and what others perform of deeds; and He will requite them for that with their rightful requital.
