112 - Sūrat al-Ikhlās/at-Tawhīd

In the name of Allah (who is) Rahmān (and) Rahīm.

[For explanation, see Sūrat al-Fātiha: 1]

1

Say: 'He is Allahu ta’ālā, One (Allāhu is the predicate of huwa, 'He is', and ahadun is its substitution or a second predicate).

[(O my Rasūl,) Say (to the people of Quraish who say “Explain to us what kind of being Allah is.”): He is Allah (whose existence has no beginning and no end. He has all the kamāl (perfection) attributes and he is exalted beyond all kinds of deficiencies (imperfections). He is exalted beyond all attributes of matter (bodies, objects, materials). Allah is), the One (He has no partners).]

2

Allahu ta’ālā, the Self-Sufficient, Besought of all (Allāhu al-Samad constitute a subject and a predicate) [al-Samad means] the One Who is always sought at times of need,

[Allah is Samad (He has no end, He is everlasting and forever). (All beings are in need of Him. But He needs nothing and nobody. Everything is His creation.)]

3

He neither begot, for no likeness of Him can exist, nor was begotten, since createdness is precluded in His case.

[He has not given birth (to a child) and was not born (from a mother or any other being). (He does not have a mate, a son, or a daughter. He is distant from all types of attributes, concepts, or possibilities that may come to mind about the coming into existence and reproduction of created beings.)]

4

Nor is there anyone equal to Him', neither match nor comparison (lahu, 'to Him', is semantically connected to kufuwan, 'equal', but precedes it because it is the object of the intended negation; ahadun, 'anyone', which is the subject of yakun, 'is there', has been placed after the predicate of the latter [kufuwan, 'equal'] in order to retain the harmony of the end-rhyme [of the verses]).

[Nothing is equal (or similar) to Him.]