Tafseer of The Moon · Al-Qamar · 54:49
Indeed, all things We created with predestination.
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.
His saying إِنَّا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ ("Verily, We have created everything according to a determined measure") — the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says thereby: Verily, We have created everything according to a measure that We have fixed and decreed. In this lies a clarification that Allah, exalted is His praise, has threatened these criminals because of their denial of the divine decree (al-qadar), in addition to their disbelief therein.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes of the Qurʾān (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Hishām ibn Saʿd related to us, on the authority of Abū Thābit, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he said: I find in the Book of Allah a people who are dragged on their faces in the Fire; to them it is said ذُوقُوا مَسَّ سَقَرَ ("Taste the touch of Saqar"), because they denied the divine decree (al-qadar); and I do not see them, so I do not know whether it was something that was before us, or something that is among what remains.
Ibn Bashshār and Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, both of them saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ziyād ibn Ismāʿīl al-Sahmī, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Jaʿfar, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, that the polytheists (mushrikīn) of Quraysh disputed with the Prophet ﷺ concerning the divine decree (al-qadar), whereupon Allah sent down إِنَّا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ ("Verily, We have created everything according to a determined measure").
Ibn Bashshār, Ibn al-Muthannā, and Abū Kurayb related to us, they said: Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ziyād ibn Ismāʿīl al-Sahmī, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Jaʿfar al-Makhzūmī, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: The polytheists of Quraysh came to the Prophet ﷺ and disputed with him concerning the divine decree (al-qadar), whereupon there was sent down إِنَّ الْمُجْرِمِينَ فِي ضَلالٍ وَسُعُرٍ ("Verily, the criminals are in error and madness").
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ziyād ibn Ismāʿīl al-Sahmī, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Jaʿfar al-Makhzūmī, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, something similar.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn informed us, on the authority of Saʿd ibn ʿUbayda, on the authority of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, who said: When this verse إِنَّا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ ("Verily, We have created everything according to a determined measure") was sent down, a man said: O Messenger of Allah, then to what purpose is action? Is it in something that we have yet to begin, or in something that has already been concluded? He said: Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Act, for everyone is made easy for that for which he was created; We shall make him easy for ease, and We shall make him easy for hardship."
Ibn Abī al-Shawārib related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ziyād related to us, saying: Khaṣīf related to us, saying: I heard Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī say: When the people spoke about the divine decree (al-qadar), I looked, and behold, this verse had been sent down concerning them إِنَّ الْمُجْرِمِينَ فِي ضَلالٍ وَسُعُرٍ ("Verily, the criminals are in error and madness")... up to His saying خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ ("We created it according to a determined measure").
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim and Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, both of them saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, who said: This verse was only sent down as a reproach to the adherents of the [denial of the] divine decree (ahl al-qadar): ذُوقُوا مَسَّ سَقَرَ * إِنَّا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ ("Taste the touch of Saqar * Verily, We have created everything according to a determined measure").
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī Ḥafṣa, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, [concerning] ذُوقُوا مَسَّ سَقَرَ ("Taste the touch of Saqar"), he said: It was sent down as a reproach to the adherents of the [denial of the] divine decree (ahl al-qadar).
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ziyād ibn Ismāʿīl al-Sahmī, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Jaʿfar al-Makhzūmī, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: The polytheists of Quraysh came to the Prophet ﷺ and disputed with him concerning the divine decree (al-qadar), whereupon there was sent down إِنَّا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ ("Verily, We have created everything according to a determined measure").
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Ḥāzim, on the authority of Usāma, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, something similar.
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, [concerning] His saying إِنَّا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ ("Verily, We have created everything according to a determined measure"), he said: Allah has created the entire creation according to a measure, and He has created for them good and evil according to a measure; the best of the good is felicity (al-saʿāda), and the worst of the evil is wretchedness (al-shaqāʾ); wretched is wretchedness.
The Arabic linguists (ahl al-ʿarabiyya) differed concerning the reason for the accusative (naṣb) in His saying كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ. Some grammarians of Basra said: "Kulla shayʾ" stands in the accusative according to the usage of one who says: "ʿAbd Allāh ḍarabtu-hu" ("ʿAbd Allāh — I struck him"); he said: and this occurs frequently in the speech of the Arabs. He said: and "kull" is also put in the nominative (rafʿ) according to the usage of one who puts it in the nominative, and it is also put in the nominative in another way. He said: إِنَّا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ, whereby one makes "khalaqnāhu" an attribute (ṣifa) of "al-shayʾ." Another said: "Kull" stands in the accusative only because His saying "khalaqnāhu" is a verb, [belonging] to His saying إِنَّا, and it [the verb] has more right to be placed first than the direct object; therefore the accusative was preferred. And "ʿabd Allāh" in the saying "ʿAbd Allāh ḍarabtu-hu" is nothing that has more right to the verb; and likewise "innā ṭaʿāmaka akalnāhu" ("verily, we — your food — we ate it"): the preference is the accusative, because you intend: "innā akalnā ṭaʿāmaka" ("verily, we ate your food"); the [verb] "al-akl" has more right to "innā" than "al-ṭaʿām." He said: and as for the saying of one who says that "khalaqnāhu" is an attribute for "al-shayʾ," that is far-fetched, for the meaning is: "Verily, We have created it, every thing, according to a measure." And this second saying is, in my view, more correct than the first, because of the reasons that I have mentioned for its adherent.
