Tafseer of The Winnowing Winds · Adh-Dhaariyat · 51:49
And of all things We created two mates; perhaps you will remember.
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 the Exalted: وَمِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ (And of all things We created a pair, that perhaps you may be reminded (49))
The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: And of all things We created a pair. The first "We created" (خَلَقْنا) has been omitted, because the indication of the sentence sufficed.
There is disagreement over the meaning of خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ (We created a pair). Some said: what is meant by it is: and of all things We created two mutually differing kinds, such as misfortune and felicity, guidance and error, and the like.
* Mention of who said that:
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me; he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us; he said: Ibn Jurayj related to us; he said: Mujāhid said concerning His words وَمِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ : he said: unbelief and belief, misfortune and felicity, guidance and error, night and day, the heaven and the earth, mankind and the jinn.
Ibn Bashshār related to us; he said: Ibrāhīm ibn Abī al-Wazīr related to us; he said: Marwān ibn Muʿāwiya al-Fazārī related to us; he said: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His words وَمِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ : he said: the sun and the moon.
And others said: by "the pair" is meant: the male and the female.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words وَمِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ : he said: a male and a female being—that is the pair. And he recited وَأَصْلَحْنَا لَهُ زَوْجَهُ (And We made his wife sound for him). He said: his wife.
And the correct of the two views on this is the view of Mujāhid, namely that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, created for every being that He created a second that is opposed to it in its meaning, so that each of the two is a counterpart (zawj) of the other. For this reason it was said: "We created a pair." The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, has thereby drawn attention to His power to create whatever He wishes to create, and that He is not like the things whose nature produces only one effect without its opposite. For everything whose attribute is that it produces only one effect and nothing beyond that—such as fire, whose nature is heating and which is not suited for cooling, and such as ice, whose nature is cooling and which is not suited for heating—cannot be characterized by perfection. The completeness of praise belongs only to Him who is able to do all that He wills, of diverse and similar things.
And His words لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ —He says: that perhaps you may be reminded and take a lesson from it, so that you may know, O you who ascribe partners to Allah, that your Lord, who has a claim to your worship, is the One who is able to create a thing and its opposite, and to bring forth from all things a pair—not he who is not able to do that.
