Surah 30. Ar-Rum

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Verses [Section]: 1-10[1], 11-19 [2], 20-27 [3], 28-40 [4], 41-53 [5], 54-60 [6]

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Quran Text of Verse 20-27وَ مِنْAnd amongاٰیٰتِهٖۤHis Signsاَنْ(is) thatخَلَقَكُمْHe created youمِّنْfromتُرَابٍdustثُمَّthenاِذَاۤbehold!اَنْتُمْYouبَشَرٌ(are) human beingsتَنْتَشِرُوْنَ dispersing وَ مِنْAnd amongاٰیٰتِهٖۤHis Signsاَنْ(is) thatخَلَقَHe createdلَكُمْfor youمِّنْfromاَنْفُسِكُمْyourselvesاَزْوَاجًاmatesلِّتَسْكُنُوْۤاthat you may find tranquilityاِلَیْهَاin themوَ جَعَلَand He placedبَیْنَكُمْbetween youمَّوَدَّةًloveوَّ رَحْمَةً ؕand mercyاِنَّIndeedفِیْinذٰلِكَthatلَاٰیٰتٍsurely (are) Signsلِّقَوْمٍfor a peopleیَّتَفَكَّرُوْنَ who reflect وَ مِنْAnd amongاٰیٰتِهٖHis Signsخَلْقُ(is the) creationالسَّمٰوٰتِ(of) the heavensوَ الْاَرْضِand the earthوَ اخْتِلَافُand the diversityاَلْسِنَتِكُمْ(of) your languagesوَ اَلْوَانِكُمْ ؕand your colorsاِنَّIndeedفِیْinذٰلِكَthatلَاٰیٰتٍsurely (are) Signsلِّلْعٰلِمِیْنَ for those of knowledge وَ مِنْAnd amongاٰیٰتِهٖHis Signsمَنَامُكُمْ(is) your sleepبِالَّیْلِby nightوَ النَّهَارِand the dayوَ ابْتِغَآؤُكُمْ[and] your seekingمِّنْofفَضْلِهٖ ؕHis BountyاِنَّIndeedفِیْinذٰلِكَthatلَاٰیٰتٍsurely (are) Signsلِّقَوْمٍfor a peopleیَّسْمَعُوْنَ who listen وَ مِنْAnd amongاٰیٰتِهٖHis SignsیُرِیْكُمُHe shows youالْبَرْقَthe lightningخَوْفًا(causing) fearوَّ طَمَعًاand hopeوَّ یُنَزِّلُand He sends downمِنَfromالسَّمَآءِthe skyمَآءًwaterفَیُحْیٖand gives lifeبِهِtherewithالْاَرْضَ(to) the earthبَعْدَafterمَوْتِهَا ؕits deathاِنَّIndeedفِیْinذٰلِكَthatلَاٰیٰتٍsurely (are) Signsلِّقَوْمٍfor a peopleیَّعْقِلُوْنَ who use intellect 30. Ar-Rum Page 407وَ مِنْAnd amongاٰیٰتِهٖۤHis Signsاَنْ(is) thatتَقُوْمَstandsالسَّمَآءُthe heavensوَ الْاَرْضُand the earthبِاَمْرِهٖ ؕby His CommandثُمَّThenاِذَاwhenدَعَاكُمْHe calls youدَعْوَةً ۖۗ(with) a callمِّنَfromالْاَرْضِ ۖۗthe earthاِذَاۤbehold!اَنْتُمْYouتَخْرُجُوْنَ will come forth وَ لَهٗAnd to Him (belongs)مَنْwhoeverفِی(is) inالسَّمٰوٰتِthe heavensوَ الْاَرْضِ ؕand the earthكُلٌّAllلَّهٗto Himقٰنِتُوْنَ (are) obedient وَ هُوَAnd Heالَّذِیْ(is) the One Whoیَبْدَؤُاoriginatesالْخَلْقَthe creationثُمَّthenیُعِیْدُهٗrepeats itوَ هُوَand itاَهْوَنُ(is) easierعَلَیْهِ ؕfor Himوَ لَهُAnd for Himالْمَثَلُ(is) the descriptionالْاَعْلٰىthe highestفِیinالسَّمٰوٰتِthe heavensوَ الْاَرْضِ ۚand the earthوَ هُوَAnd Heالْعَزِیْزُ(is) the All-Mightyالْحَكِیْمُ۠the All-Wise

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Translation of Verse 20-27

(30:20) And of His²⁶ Signs is that He created you from dust and behold, you became human beings, and are multiplying around (the earth).²⁷

(30:21) And of His Signs is that He has created mates for you from your own kind²⁸ that you may find peace in them²⁹ and He has set between you love and mercy.³⁰ Surely there are Signs in this for those who reflect.

(30:22) And of His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth³¹ and the diversity of your tongues and colours.³² Indeed there are Signs in this for the wise.

(30:23) And of His Signs is your sleeping at night and your seeking His Bounty³³ during the day. Indeed there are Signs in this for those who hearken.

(30:24) And of His Signs is that He shows you lightning, arousing both fear and hope,³⁴ and sends down water from the sky and revives the earth after it is dead.³⁵ Indeed there are Signs in this for those who use their reason.

(30:25) And of His Signs is that the sky and the earth stand firm by His command.³⁶ Then no sooner than He summons you out of the earth you will come forth.³⁷

(30:26) To Him belong all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth. All are in obedience to Him.

(30:27) It is He Who creates in the first instance and it is He Who will repeat the creation, and that is easier for Him.³⁸ His is the loftiest attribute in the heavens and the earth. He is the Most Mighty, the Most Wise.

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Commentary

26. Verses 20-26 enumerate several Signs of God. These Signs, in the context of the foregoing, provide, on the one hand, evidence to establish that the Next Life is possible as well as imminent. On the other hand, these very Signs also corroborate that this Universe is neither devoid of God nor is there a plurality of gods. Instead, there is only One God Who is the sole Creator, Sovereign, Lord and Master of the Universe. As a corollary of this, He alone should be the object of man’s worship and service.

27. Man is constituted of some lifeless elements such.as traces of carbon, calcium and sodium. Yet that which has been produced from these elements is the wonderful being called man who is possessed of astonishing feeling, emotion, intellection and imagination. Now, none of these traits can be traced to the elements of which he is composed. It is obvious that the creation of man was not coincidental for he was endowed with reproductive power thanks to which billions upon billions of human - beings have come into existence. These human beings essentially possess the same structure and endowments. And myriad hereditary and individual characteristics. Does it stand to reason that this wonderful feat of creation was accomplished without the creative will of an All-Wise Creator? Or alternatively, can anyone in his right mind believe that the great scheme of man’s creation could have been devised and executed and the innumerable forces of heaven and earth yoked to serve man’s purposes by the will and power of a multiplicity of gods? Likewise, can anyone believe, unless his rationality has been impaired, that God, Who brought man into existence from nothing, will not have the power to recreate him after he dies?

28. In His immaculate wisdom, God divided mankind into two sexes. Members of both these sexes are identical in their humanity. The basic formula of their physical constitution is the same. And yet the two differ widely in certain aspects of their physical configuration, their mental and psychological characteristics, their emotional and psychic urges. At the same time, they complement each other, each serving as the other’s couple. There is an astounding degree of complementarity between the two sexes in so far as the physical make-up, emotional characteristics, and the urges of each complete those of the other.

From the very beginning, God in His infinite wisdom has been creating the two in such proportion that each balances out the other. It has never happened — in no age and at no place that only male or female children have been born. Also, everyone would agree that this phenomenon has nothing to do with any planning or effort on man’s part. Nor does man have any role in the fact that males and females are endowed with features that make them complementary to each other. Nor does man have the power to regulate. the proportion of male and female births ensuring thereby a degree of balance between the two. Nor would it make sense to regard the birth of billions upon billions of men and women over the ages in the manner mentioned above either as a mere coincidence or as the result of a common scheme devised and executed by a multiplicity of gods. What the phenomenon really indicates is that all this is thanks to the will of an All-Wise Creator, and of only One Creator. It is He Who in His immense wisdom and power initially created an exceedingly appropriate design of the male and the female and then ensured that innumerable males and innumerable females are brought into existence according to the same design with their respective characteristics, and roughly in a given proportion.

29. The arrangement we see around us is that men and women, thanks to their natural instincts, are attracted to one another and when a relationship is established between a male and a female that provides peace and contentment to both of them. This judicious arrangement is designed by God as a means of ensuring procreation of the human species on the one hand, and to bring human civilization and culture into existence on the other. Had the two sexes been created with their respective varying characteristics the human race would possibly still have multiplied, as we find in the case of sheep and goats. Nevertheless, this multiplication of mankind would not have been productive of culture and civilization.

For it is noteworthy that, as contradistinguished from all animal species, man alone possesses culture and civilization.

What accounts for this is that the Creator in His wisdom has infused into men and. women a strong desire, a thirst, and an urge which draws each to the other. Such is their nature that they remain ill at ease unless a male and a female are unified in an intimate and abiding relationship. It is this thirst for gratification that prompts them to establish, by their mutual effort, a home, a family, and a tribe, which also gives rise to the emergence of society, culture and civilization. These achievements doubtlessly owe themselves to the mental faculties of the human species. Yet the driving force for these achievements was provided by the yearning of each sex for the other, a yearning that is ingrained in their nature which compels them to come together and establish a home. Is it credible that this consummate wisdom was merely an accidental product of the blind forces of nature? Or alternatively, is it credible that a multiplicity of gods sought to achieve this beneficial objective by bringing into being innumerable men and women all endowed with this mutual yearning? The fact is that this phenomenon has only one explanation, that it represents the wisdom of the One All-Wise God. This is far too evident to be denied by any except those who suffer from intellectual myopia.

30. The word mawaddah (love) used in the verse denotes sexual love, which is the primary factor that makes a male and a female gravitate towards one another and keeps them bonded together. As for the word rahmah (mercy), it refers to that spiritual relationship which gradually develops among them in the course of their matrimonial life. This is a relationship of cordial mutuality thanks to which the spouses become each other’s true well-wishers and sincere co-sharers of each other’s joy and sorrow. In fact, there comes a time when the passionate ardor of sexual love is relegated to the background and these life-partners become, in their old age, all the more loving, caring and compassionate towards each other.

Love and mercy are thus the two positive forces which the Creator has ingrained in men and women in order to trigger that inherent discontent in them which prompts them to go for its resolution. As a result, they are drawn to each other. In time, these two forces lead to the establishment of a permanent companionship between a couple. Although each of the two might have been brought up in a totally different milieu, they become immensely close to each other and spend their lives in intimacy, rowing together their common boat on the turbulent waters of life. This love and mercy, which have been experienced by millions ‘of human beings in their lives, are not material objects that can be subjected to weight and measure. Nor can their sources be traced to any of the chemical constituents of which the human body is composed, nor can any laboratory determine how love and compassion come into existence and grow. The only explanation for their existence and growth is that they were judiciously instilled in human nature by the All-Wise Creator for some specific purpose.

31. The heavens and the earth were created ex nihilo and were made to function according to an inexorable scheme in which innumerable forces are operating in a state of utter mutual harmony and equilibrium. This definitely indicates that the whole Universe was created and is controlled by a Creator Who is absolutely One.

There is much in the Universe that calls for reflection. In the first place, one ought to reflect on what the source of primary energy was that assumed the form of matter, and how matter split into a multiplicity of elements. Moreover, these elements were made parts of a system that is characterized by amazing balance and equilibrium, giving rise to an awe inspiring cosmic order that has been in operation for billions of years.

If one considers all this without intellectual bias, one is bound to conclude that this wondrous order could never be the product of mere chance or accident. At the same time, we also see that the entire Universe, from the earth to the most distant planets, is made up of the same elements and is governed by the same laws of nature. It is obvious that anyone who is not utterly tainted by obstinacy is bound to recognize that all this could not have been possible had there been a multiplicity of gods. What has made all this possible is that there is only One God, Who is the Creator and Lord of the entire Universe.

32. Although all human beings have been endowed with the same organs of speech, there being no difference in the structure of their tongues or brains, they speak different languages in different parts of the world.

Not only this but even speakers of the same language have different dialects which vary from town to town and region to region. Furthermore, each person has a distinct accent and pronunciation and a mannerism of speech that is markedly different from others. In like manner, even though all human beings were created from an identical semen and according to an identical formula of creation, they all differ widely in their complexion. Even offspring of the same parents carry different hues, let alone the fact that different communities are characterized by a variety of complexions.

The Qur’an mentions variations in language and complexion only for illustrative purposes. Going further along the same line, one observes a mind-boggling variation of different kinds throughout the world.

‘These variations are simply too numerous to be fully spelled out here.

Notwithstanding the essential sameness in human beings, animals and plants within their respective species, they differ vastly. Not even one member of a species is quite like any other of the same species, so much so that even two leaves of the same tree are not quite identical.

It is thus fairly clear that the different objects of this world have not been produced by automatic machines geared to mass manufacturing of identical products. On the contrary, the world clearly indicates the role of the All-Powerful Maker and Designer Who pays attention to each and every product, investing each with a unique design and distinctive features, proportions, and traits. As a result, every creation of God is unique in. its own right. God’s inexhaustible inventiveness accounts for the production of ever new models. It is out of sync with His creative power to repeat any product of His own creation. Anyone who carefully observes the phenomenon of creation can never succumb to the delusion that the Creator, having brought the present cosmic order into being, has withdrawn Himself from His over lordship and into His sleeping chamber. On the contrary, he is bound to conclude that the Creator is ever engaged in His creative task, paying special attention to each and every piece of His creation.

33. The expression “seeking His Bounty” signifies man’s effort to seek his livelihood. Man usually sleeps at night and strives during the day to earn his bread. This, however, is not to be taken strictly as a universal rule. For many people indeed sleep during the day and are engaged in seeking their livelihood at night. Significantly, the verse mentions day and night together, implying that man takes rest and earns his bread both by night and day.

The earning of one’s livelihood is yet another manifestation of the All-Wise Creator’s Providence. It not only shows His creative power but also His immense mercy and compassion for His creatures. It is evident that He cares for and is benevolently concerned with providing for man’s needs and for all that is conducive to His well-being far more than man can care for himself. Let us consider some examples: man has been so constituted that he cannot work continually all the time without interruption. After working for several hours he needs a few hours of rest and relaxation to refresh himself enabling him to resume work for a few more hours.

In order to make this possible God has created in man the disposition to become fatigued and exhausted, which is followed by the urge to take rest. That is not all however. God has also ingrained in man’s being the powerful urge to sleep, an urge that involuntarily seizes him after he has remained awake and has exerted himself for a few hours. In fact, this urge to sleep is so powerful that it overpowers man despite his efforts to resist it, forcing him even involuntarily to take a few hours’ rest. Once he has taken a rest and is refreshed, his sleep automatically comes to an end.

Man has not yet been able to fathom the nature of sleep and the factors inducing it. All we know about it is that it is innate in human nature, that it is a part of his physiological make-up. The fact that it perfectly attends to man’s needs testifies to the fact that it is not merely accidental; rather, it is part of a well thought out scheme devised by the All-Wise Creator.

The purposiveness and wisdom underlying it are unmistakable. The phenomenon of sleep also indicates that He Who has ingrained it into the human body certainly cares for man’s well-being even more than man himself. For it is possible that had the urge to sleep not been so overpowering, man might have worked continuously and incessantly at the cost of his rest, causing incalculable harm to the life-energy with which he has been endowed.

As for the expression “seeking Allah’s Bounty”, this points to another genie of Signs. Man’s search for livelihood would have been futile had the forces of the Universe not been geared to producing the means of such livelihood, and had man’s livelihood not been made readily available.

God not only took care of all this, but also bestowed upon man the bodily organs and other physical and mental capacities suitable for seeking his livelihood. Thus, the ability within man to seek his livelihood and the availability of livelihood outside him clearly point to the existence of God Who is Compassionate, Benevolent and Generous to His creatures. Unless a person is puerile it would be hard to consider all this to be merely the outcome of a fortuitous combination of circumstances, or the outcome of the will of a plurality of gods, or that these acts of bounteous generosity owe themselves to some blind, senseless, impersonal force.

34. Thunder and lightning give rise to the hope of rainfall, which in turn helps to produce crops. At the same time, these natural phenomena also evoke dread lest lightning or a thunderstorm cause wide-scale destruction.

35. On the one hand, rainfall indicates that death will be followed by Resurrection. On the other hand, it also indicates that it is the One True God Who manages the affairs of the heavens and the earth. The sustenance of countless earthly creaturs rests on the produce of the earth. This, in turn, is contingent upon the fertility of the soil, which depends on rain which might fall directly on earth and accumulate in the form of water reservoirs, or in the form of underground springs, or wells by penetrating the recesses of the earth, or it may assume the form of rivers as a result of snow and ice melting from mountain tops. As for rainfall, it is caused by a number of factors — sunlight, climatic variations, atmospheric ‘temperatures, movements of the wind, and lightning, which causes the clouds to make the rain fall and adds to it a natural fertilizing element.

Itis noteworthy that there is perfect equilibrium and harmony among these myriad objects right from the sky down to the earth and that all these objects are geared to innumerable and varied purposes. It is also noteworthy that the equilibrium and harmony obtaining among these numerous objects have been there all along for millions of years. Evidently this cannot be merely accidental. Does it stand to reason that all this is possible without the most careful planning of a Creator possessed of absolute wisdom and power? Does this not conclusively prove that the Creator of the earth, of the sun, of water, of heat and cold, and of all the creatures on earth is the same One True God?

36. Not only have the sky and the earth come into existence by God’s command, but the continuity of their existence also owes itself to His command. But for His command, the whole order of things would have come crashing down within a moment.

37. It is not at all difficult for Him Who created and thereafter manages the affairs of the Universe to resurrect human beings after they die. In order to do so, He will not have to make any elaborate preparations. A single command from Him will suffice to raise to life, from all parts of earth, all those who were ever born and thereafter suffered death.

38. If creation in the first instance was not difficult for God, then why should it be difficult for Him to repeat it? The act of God’s creation is before all to see. Evidently, the initial act of creation was not at all difficult for Him. So common sense itself requires that it should be easier for Him to recreate those whom He created once before.