Verses 189–198

Chapter 7: Al-Aʿrāf (Elevations) · Printed edition: Volume 16, pp. 286–295

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ واحِدَةٍ وَ جَعَلَ مِنْها زَوْجَها لِيَسْكُنَ إِلَيْها فَلَمَّا تَغَشَّاها حَمَلَتْ حَمْلاً خَفِيفاً فَمَرَّتْ بِهِ فَلَمَّا أَثْقَلَتْ دَعَوَا اللَّهَ رَبَّهُما لَئِنْ آتَيْتَنا صالِحاً لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ ١٨٩ فَلَمَّا آتاهُما صالِحاً جَعَلا لَهُ شُرَكاءَ فِيما آتاهُما فَتَعالَى اللَّهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ١٩٠ أَ يُشْرِكُونَ ما لا يَخْلُقُ شَيْئاً وَ هُمْ يُخْلَقُونَ ١٩١ وَ لا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ لَهُمْ نَصْراً وَ لا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَنْصُرُونَ ١٩٢ وَ إِنْ تَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَى الْهُدى‏ لا يَتَّبِعُوكُمْ سَواءٌ عَلَيْكُمْ أَ دَعَوْتُمُوهُمْ أَمْ أَنْتُمْ صامِتُونَ ١٩٣ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ عِبادٌ أَمْثالُكُمْ فَادْعُوهُمْ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُوا لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صادِقِينَ ١٩٤ أَ لَهُمْ أَرْجُلٌ يَمْشُونَ بِها أَمْ لَهُمْ أَيْدٍ يَبْطِشُونَ بِها أَمْ لَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌ يُبْصِرُونَ بِها أَمْ لَهُمْ آذانٌ يَسْمَعُونَ بِها قُلِ ادْعُوا شُرَكاءَكُمْ ثُمَّ كِيدُونِ فَلا تُنْظِرُونِ ١٩٥ إِنَّ وَلِيِّيَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ الْكِتابَ وَ هُوَ يَتَوَلَّى الصَّالِحِينَ ١٩٦ وَ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِهِ لا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ نَصْرَكُمْ وَ لا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَنْصُرُونَ ١٩٧ وَ إِنْ تَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَى الْهُدى‏ لا يَسْمَعُوا وَ تَراهُمْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَيْكَ وَ هُمْ لا يُبْصِرُونَ ١٩٨

189. It is He who created you from a single soul, and made from it its mate, that he might find comfort with her. So when he covered her, she bore a light burden and passed [some time] with it. When she had grown heavy, they both invoked Allah, their Lord: “If You give us a healthy [child], we will be surely grateful.”
190. Then when He gave them a healthy [child], they ascribed partners to Him in what He had given them. Exalted is Allah above [having] any partners that they ascribe [to Him]!
191. Do they ascribe [to Him] partners that create nothing and have been created themselves,
192. and can neither help them, nor help themselves?
193. And if you call them to guidance, they will not follow you: it is the same to you whether you call them or whether you are silent.
194. Indeed those whom you invoke besides Allah are servants like you. So invoke them: they should answer you, if you are truthful.
195. Do they have any feet to walk with? Do they have any hands to grasp with? Do they have any eyes to see with? Do they have any ears to hear with? Say, “Invoke your partners [that you ascribe to Allah] then contrive against me and spare me not.
196. My guardian is indeed Allah Who sent down the Book, and He takes care of the righteous.
197. Those whom you invoke besides Him can neither help you, nor help themselves.”
198. If you call them to guidance, they will not hear. You see them observing you, but they do not perceive.

Introduction

These verses follow the main theme that pervades the chapter: the covenants of humankind [with their Lord], and the breaking of these covenants in most cases.

Commentary

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ واحِدَةٍ وَ جَعَلَ مِنْها زَوْجَها لِيَسْكُنَ إِلَيْها فَلَمَّا تَغَشَّاها حَمَلَتْ حَمْلاً خَفِيفاً فَمَرَّتْ بِهِ فَلَمَّا أَثْقَلَتْ دَعَوَا اللَّهَ رَبَّهُما لَئِنْ آتَيْتَنا صالِحاً لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ ١٨٩ فَلَمَّا آتاهُما صالِحاً جَعَلا لَهُ شُرَكاءَ فِيما آتاهُما فَتَعالَى اللَّهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ١٩٠

(7:189-190) It is He who created you from a single soul, and made from it its mate, that he might find comfort with her. So when he covered her (taghashshāhā), she bore a light burden and passed [some time] with it. When she had grown heavy, they both invoked Allah, their Lord: “If You give us a healthy [child], we will be surely grateful.” Then when He gave them a healthy [child], they ascribed partners to Him in what He had given them. Exalted is Allah above [having] any partners that they ascribe [to Him]!

These two verses provide an analogy for the Children of Adam in general. They are meant to illustrate the people’s breaching of a covenant that they have taken on themselves, and their injustice against the signs and communications of God.

The meaning is: It is He who created you: all Children of Adam. From a single soul: the father of each of you. And made from it: from the same species; its mate, that he: the man who is the “single soul”; might find comfort with her: with the woman who is his spouse. So when he covered her, she bore a light burden: that is the zygote, which is light. And passed [some time] with it: the mother carried it for a while as she came in, went out, sat down and stood up; until the initial seed grew in her womb and turned into a heavy fetus that made her heavy. When she had grown heavy, they both invoked Allah, their Lord: making a covenant and promise with Him. “If You give us a healthy [child], we will be surely grateful”: we will proclaim Your blessing; will ascribe it to You alone, not to any other cause or means; and will not resort to anything other than You.

The word taghashshī alludes to sexual intercourse. The verse literally says “a righteous child” (ṣāliḥan). However, what is meant here is not religious righteousness, but righteous in terms of being fit to live and grow to be a complete person, without any physical deficiency or deformity. That is what the parents wish for their child upon its birth and the beginning of its growth. This is a form of God’s rizq (provision, sustenance).

Then when He gave them a healthy [child]…: God granted their request and made them pleased by giving them a healthy child that is fit to live to maturity.

… they ascribed partners to Him in what He had given them…: They fell into polytheism with respect to their healthy child. Their love and care for the child led them to cling to every possible means and submit to every other force besides God. Thus they broke the covenant and promise that they had taken upon themselves: to thank God and not be ungrateful toward His blessing and Lordship.

This is the story of the majority of humans, except those upon whom God blesses with His special mercy. Most people are very quick to break their covenant, contravene their promise, and not fulfill their vows. However: Exalted is Allah above [having] any partners that they ascribe [to Him]!

As one can see in our interpretation above, this story is a generic depiction of all parents among humankind. It describes how humans in general feel and behave when they are about to have a child. After all, every human being is born of their parents, and this is how the human population has grown, as the Qur’an says: O humankind! We created you from a male and a female, and made you nations and tribes (). Since parents have a strong sense of care and love for their baby, they would naturally turn to God wholeheartedly with respect to their baby’s development and birth. They may not do so consciously or with any ritual detail, but that is the state of their heart as they feel desperate and cut off from all means. This can be compared to the condition of one who is faced with turbulence in the sea, when the billows toss their ship about in every direction.

In short, parents cut off from every other source, and turn to God sincerely in the matter of their child. They pledge to God that if You bless us with a healthy child that we like, we will ever be grateful to You. But when He grants their wish and gives them a healthy child, they associate partners with God by clinging to every possible instrument in order to protect and raise their child, and by resorting to every possible shield.

… Exalted is Allah above [having] any partners that they ascribe (ʿammā yushrikūna): The verb yushrikūna (they ascribe) is in the plural form, not the dual form. This confirms our above interpretation [that the two verses are about all people in general]. If the single soul and its mate at the beginning of verse were pointing to a specific couple—like Adam and Eve—then the ending should have been in the dual form, like ʿan shirkihimā or ʿammā ashrakā (their association, in the dual form).

Another reason why this cannot be a description of Adam is that the subsequent verses refute shirk (polytheism, association) and criticize the polytheists, where the apparent meaning of shirk is serving a god other than God. Such an act is far from Adam, who was the chosen friend of God (ṣafī Allāh). Even if we disregard his prophethood—or do not accept the infallibility of the prophets—we still cannot ascribe error and shirk to Adam, because the Qur’an explicitly says that God chose and guided him. It also says explicitly that one whom is guided by God shall never go astray: Then his Lord chose him, and turned to him clemently, and guided him (); Whomever Allah guides is rightly guided (); Who is more astray than him who invokes besides Allah such as would not respond to him until the Day of Resurrection (). But what error and straying is greater than serving other-than-God?

Here are a few other interpretations for this verse, suggested by some exegetes, with our comments about them:

(1) Perhaps what is meant by shirk here is not blatant polytheism, but a subtle shift of one’s attention to the apparent means and instruments as a source of reliance besides God. That would only be failing to maintain the highest degree of khulūṣ (purity, sincerity), which is implied by: we will be surely grateful (). As discussed at the beginning of this chapter—under the verse: and You will not find most of them to be grateful ()—the grateful (al-shākirūn) in the Qur’an’s nomenclature are the same as the chosen servants of God (al-mukhlaṣūn). They are those who have risen above the plane of Satan’s temptations, since there is no way for heedlessness to creep in their hearts. Therefore, the criticism implicit here—Exalted is Allah above [having] any partners that they ascribe [to Him] ()—describes Adam and Eve’s fall from their complete dedication to God as they got engaged with planning how to raise their child and procure the apparent means for that.

Comment: There still remain two problems with this interpretation: (i) The subsequent part of the verse is in the plural [not dual]: Exalted is Allah above [having] any partners that they ascribe [to Him] (). (ii) The apparent meaning of shirk in the subsequent verses is serving other gods [not merely a distraction of the heart to the natural means and forces].

(2) Some exegetes have tried to explain away these two problems by referring to the verse: It is He who carries you across land and sea. When you are in the ships, and they sail with them with a favorable wind… (). This verse starts with a universal address directed to all people, then it shifts to a particular address directed specifically to those who embark on a ship. In the current verses of discussion, we have an opposite transition: the verses start specifically about Adam and Eve, then they are generalized to all humans. Only the first part of the first verse is about Adam and Eve: It is He who created you from a single soul, and made from it its mate (). Then the verse moves on to talk about the polytheists among all humans, who ask God for a healthy child, and then associate partners with Him in that. This transition serves to show that every couple among the Children of Adam make such a covenant with God—through their inner state [not a verbal expression]—but then break their covenant.

Comment: In the above mentioned verse—It is He who carries you ()—there is some decisive evidence which clarifies the meaning and removes all ambiguity. However, there is no such unequivocal evidence for the claimed transition from a particular statement to a universal one in the current verses. This is against the eloquence of the Qur’an. Unless one says that the evidence for this transition is the last statement in these two verses—Exalted is Allah above [having] any partners that they ascribe [to Him] ()—and the next few verses. Either way, this possibility is a mix of our interpretation and the first suggested interpretation by other exegetes. It follows their interpretation with respect to the first sentence in the two verses, and follows our interpretation for the rest.

(3) Some exegetes have suggested that there is some omission (ḥadhf) and connection (īṣāl) in the part: Then when He gave them a healthy [child], they ascribed partners to Him (). The implied meaning is: “Then when God gave Adam and Eve healthy children, their healthy children ascribed partners to Him.” The dual pronoun “they” in they ascribed partners is not the subject of this sentence. Instead, the pronoun represents an omitted possessive pronoun, their children, which is the real subject of the sentence.

Comment: There is no evidence to support this possibility.

(4) Some exegetes have accepted the objection, and have admitted that Adam and his wife ascribed partners to God. They have relied on certain narrations that they have reported regarding this story.

Comment: These narrations are either fully fabricated or partially distorted. We cannot rely on such accounts because they contravene the Qur’an.

أَ يُشْرِكُونَ ما لا يَخْلُقُ شَيْئاً وَ هُمْ يُخْلَقُونَ ١٩١ وَ لا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ لَهُمْ نَصْراً وَ لا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَنْصُرُونَ ١٩٢ وَ إِنْ تَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَى الْهُدى‏ لا يَتَّبِعُوكُمْ سَواءٌ عَلَيْكُمْ أَ دَعَوْتُمُوهُمْ أَمْ أَنْتُمْ صامِتُونَ ١٩٣

(7:191-193) Do they ascribe [to Him] partners that create nothing and have been created themselves, and can neither help them, nor help themselves? And if you call them to guidance, they will not follow you: it is the same to you whether you call them or whether you are silent.

The first verse can be about either physical idols, or any means or force beside God, because relying on any source other than God would also be a form of shirk (polytheism, association). Nevertheless, the next two verses [] are apparently about physical idols specifically: they are objects that cannot help their worshipers, cannot help themselves, and do not recognize whether one prays to them or not.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ عِبادٌ أَمْثالُكُمْ فَادْعُوهُمْ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُوا لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صادِقِينَ ١٩٤ أَ لَهُمْ أَرْجُلٌ يَمْشُونَ بِها أَمْ لَهُمْ أَيْدٍ يَبْطِشُونَ بِها أَمْ لَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌ يُبْصِرُونَ بِها أَمْ لَهُمْ آذانٌ يَسْمَعُونَ بِها قُلِ ادْعُوا شُرَكاءَكُمْ ثُمَّ كِيدُونِ فَلا تُنْظِرُونِ ١٩٥

(7:194-195) Indeed those whom you invoke besides Allah are servants like you. So invoke them: they should answer you, if you are truthful. Do they have any feet to walk with? Do they have any hands to grasp with? Do they have any eyes to see with? Do they have any ears to hear with? Say, “Invoke your partners [that you ascribe to Allah] then contrive against me and spare me not.”

These two verses explain and justify the last three verses.

Indeed those whom you invoke besides Allah are servants like you…: The reason why We said that your gods are themselves created and are incapable of anything, is that they are servants like you; just as you are created and subject to God’s direction, so are they.

… So invoke them: they should answer you, if you are truthful: This is one of the Qur’an’s arguments against the polytheists. Since they pray to their gods, it implies that they believe their gods to have knowledge and power. That is why the Qur’an ascribes such a claim to them and refutes it.

Do they have any feet to walk with? Do they have any hands to grasp with? Do they have any eyes to see with? Do they have any ears to hear with? …: How could they answer you when their legs do not walk, their hands do not grasp, their eyes do not see, and their ears do not hear? These are only the forms and shapes of these organs which you have carved and painted on them. Otherwise, they are only inanimate objects. These verses use the word ʿibād (servants) for physical objects.

… Say, “Invoke your partners [that you ascribe to Allah] then contrive against me and spare me not”: From here to the end of the verses [] is a continuation of the Prophet’s argument against the polytheists. The Prophet is ordered to challenge them to recruit their gods against him. This order is meant to distinguish the Prophet’s path from theirs. The inability of their gods will clarify that the Lord of Muḥammad is the only God, to Whom belongs all knowledge and all power. Their gods, on the other hand, have no knowledge to find their way to anything, nor any power to support their worshipers.

إِنَّ وَلِيِّيَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ الْكِتابَ وَ هُوَ يَتَوَلَّى الصَّالِحِينَ ١٩٦ وَ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِهِ لا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ نَصْرَكُمْ وَ لا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَنْصُرُونَ ١٩٧ وَ إِنْ تَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَى الْهُدى‏ لا يَسْمَعُوا وَ تَراهُمْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَيْكَ وَ هُمْ لا يُبْصِرُونَ ١٩٨

(7:196-198) My guardian is indeed Allah Who sent down the Book, and He takes care of the righteous. Those whom you invoke besides Him can neither help you, nor help themselves.” If you call them to guidance, they will not hear. You see them observing you, but they do not perceive.

The Prophet is ordered to tell the polytheists: Call on your idols to help you against me. Contrive against me and do not spare or respite me. My Lord will help me and deflect your plot from me. He is the One Who has sent down the Book to guide the people with it. He looks after His righteous servants and assists them. He has promised: My righteous servants shall inherit the earth (), and I am among the righteous, so He will certainly support me. As with the gods that you worship beside God, they cannot help you nor themselves, do not hear nor see, and have no power nor knowledge.

The command given to the Prophet in these verses implies that he is one of al-ṣāliḥīn (the righteous). This is a title that has not been affirmed for any other prophet in the Qur’an. In these verses, the Prophet challenges the idols and their worshipers, just as the previous prophets did with their nations.

Examining Narrations

1. Once al-Maʾmūn asked Imam al-Riḍā: “What is the meaning of the verse: Then when He gave them a healthy [child], they ascribed partners to Him in what He had given them ()?” The Imam explained: “Eve gave birth 500 times, each time being twins: one boy and one girl. Adam and Eve prayed to God and made a covenant with Him, saying: If You give us a healthy [child], we will be surely grateful (). Then when He gave them ṣāliḥ (lit. righteous), meaning complete in creation and free from defects and illness, the two classes of male and female children ascribed partners to God in what they were given by Him. These two classes [of Adam and Eve’s children] were not grateful to God as their parents were.” Al-Maʾmūn said, “I bear witness that you are truly the son of God’s Messenger.”

Author’s comment: This hadith matches some of the above explanations for the verse suggested by other exegetes.

Some commentaries have narrated other accounts here—on the authority of Samarat b. Jundab, Abū Zayd and Ibn ʿAbbās—saying that all children of Adam and Eve used to die in infancy. Then Satan told them—or told Eve only—that if they want their child to live, they should name the child ʿAbd al-Ḥārith (lit. servant of Ḥārith), where Ḥārith was Satan’s name in the heavens. According to some narrations, he suggested ʿAbd al-Shams (lit. servant of the sun). There are other narrations which say that Satan threatened Eve that she would give birth to a camel, a cow, or some other beast, unless she named the child ʿAbd al-Ḥārith, in which case it would be a healthy human baby. However, all these narrations are either fully fabricated or partially distorted based on imports from Jewish sources (called isrāʾīliyyāt).

2. One of the Imams said: The shirk (polytheism, association) of those two [Adam and Eve] was associating others [with God] in ṭāʿah (obedience) not in ʿibādah (worship, service).

Author’s comment: This narration is apparently among the same group of [fabricated] narrations, and should be treated in the same way. It does not make sense to distinguish between ṭāʿah (obedience) and ʿibādah (worship, service), especially in the case of Satan, for God says: Did I not exhort you, O children of Adam, saying, “Do not serve Satan. He is indeed your manifest enemy, but Worship Me”? (). Nonetheless, some exegetes have maintained that these narrations only imply association (shirk) at the level of naming, which entails neither disbelief nor sin. This is al-Ṭabarī’s view.

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1. See volume 15 (1st ed.), pp. 42-43 of the English translation. (Trans.) ↩︎

2. Thus, only the first part would necessitate a dual form of verbs and pronouns. (Trans.) ↩︎

3. This is rather a clever and subtle inference from the use of both dual and plural pronouns in the two verses. It is only one step away from the author’s preferred interpretation above, which is more consistent and fluent across the entire two verses. (Trans.) ↩︎

4. Al-ʿUyūn, via its chain of narration, on the authority of Abū al-Ṣalt al-Harawī. ↩︎

5. In the Islamic literature, the word isrāʾīliyyāt is almost always used with a negative connotation, referring to distorted and incorrect accounts that Muslims have adopted from Jewish scholars. They are often narrated from Jewish or Christian converts to Islam. It should be noted, however, that the Qur’an rejects neither the previous scriptures nor their scholars altogether. It describes itself as a confirmation of the previous books (, , , , , , , , , , , ), and refers the people to the scholars of previous religions to verify its truth (, , , , , , ; also see , , , , , , , , , , , ). Therefore, the fact that a certain account or view is found in Jewish sources does not prove that it is wrong or un-Islamic. It could be that both are true, and have stemmed from the same root of revelation. A comparative study of any two scriptures—especially Abrahamic ones—suffices to show how similar they are. One would then realize that these teachings are streams that trace to the same fountain. Hence, saying that a certain account is isrāʾīlī is not a decisive argument to prove its invalidity. In the above case, the reported narrations should be discarded because they contravene the Qur’an, not because they are rooted in Jewish teachings. (Trans.) ↩︎

6. Majmaʿ al-bayān, on the authority of Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī. ↩︎

7. The author’s argument here is based on some narrations which say that what is meant here by “worshiping Satan” is obeying his commands and temptations. In other words, ʿibādah is the same as ṭāʿah (obedience), because ʿibādah (worship, service) is not meant in a ritualistic sense. (Trans.) ↩︎