'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Fatir

This surah is Meccan.

His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

"All praise is due to Allah, Creator of the heavens and the earth, making the angels messengers with wings, two, three, and four. He increases in creation what He wills. Indeed, Allah is All-Powerful over all things." "Whatever Allah opens for the people of mercy, none can withhold it; and whatever He withholds, none can send it forth after Him. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise." "O mankind, remember the favor of Allah upon you. Is there any creator other than Allah who provides for you from the heaven and the earth? There is no deity except Him. So how are you deluded?" "And if they deny you, then indeed, messengers were denied before you. And to Allah are returned all matters." "O mankind, indeed the promise of Allah is true. So let not the worldly life delude you, and let not the deceiver deceive you about Allah."

His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "All praise is due to Allah," the 'alif' and 'lam' in "the praise" is for the comprehensiveness of the genus in the most complete generality. For praise, in general, is for the noble actions and perfection, and gratitude is included in it, because it is a part of its sections. And "Fatir" means: Creator, but it increases in meaning by being unique in the beginning of its creation. From this is the saying of the Arab: "I have created it," meaning: I have begun to dig it. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: I did not understand the meaning of "Fatir" until I heard the saying of the Arab. Al-Zuhri read: "All praise is due to Allah, Fatir," and the majority of the people read: "making" in the genitive case, and a group read: [making] in the nominative case, as a separate description. Khalid ibn Nashit read: [made] in the past tense. As for this last reading, his saying: "messengers" is in the accusative case. And as for the two previous readings, it is said: He intended by "making" the future, because the decree was in eternity, and the nun was omitted for ease, and it worked like the future in "messengers." A group said: "making" means the continuation, and "messengers" is in the accusative by implying a verb. And "messengers" means: by revelation and other commands. For Gabriel, Michael, Azrael, and Israfil are messengers, and the angels who succeed one another are messengers, and those who support the just rulers are messengers, and others besides that. Al-Hasan read: "messengers" with the 's' being silent.

And "Uli" is the plural of (Dhu), and from it: the pious one is the one of restraint, and the people are those of restraint. It has been narrated from Al-Hasan that he said in the interpretation of the saying of Maryam, peace be upon her: "If you are pious" [Maryam: 18]: Maryam knew that the pious one is the one of restraint.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿in pairs and threes and fours﴾ are words that have been altered from two, three, and four. They have been adjusted in the state of indefiniteness, so they are recognized by the adjustment. They do not decline for the adjustment and the definition. It is said: for the adjustment and the description. The benefit of the adjustment is the indication of repetition: for 'in pairs' is like saying: two by two. And Qatadah said: The types of angels are like this; some have two wings, some have three, and some have four, and there are rare ones that have more than that. It has been narrated that Gabriel, peace be upon him, has six hundred wings, two of which extend from the east to the west. A group said: The meaning is that in every side of the angel there are two wings, and for some of them there are four. Otherwise, if there were three for each one, they would not have balanced in what we have seen of the wings. And it is said: Rather, they are three for each one like the fish, and Allah knows best about that.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿He increases in creation what He wills﴾ is a confirmation of what occurs in the souls of astonishment and wonder upon hearing about the angels with wings. That is: this is not strange in the power of Allah, blessed and exalted is He; for He increases in His creation what He wills. It has been narrated from Al-Hasan and Ibn Shihab that they said: The increase is the beauty of the voice. Al-Haytham Al-Farisi said: I saw the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in a dream, and he said to me: 'You are Al-Haytham who beautifies the Quran with your voice, may Allah reward you well.' And it is said: The increase is the beautiful writing. And the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'The beautiful writing increases the truth in clarity.' And Qatadah said: The increase is the beauty of the eyes. And it is said otherwise. And those who mentioned these things mentioned them as examples, not that the intended meaning is only these. Rather, they exemplified with things that are external increases beyond the common and usual that are often found. And the rest of the verse is clear.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿What Allah opens﴾, 'What' is a conditional, and 'opens' is made conditional. And ﴿of mercy﴾ is general in every good that Allah gives to His servants, both collectively and individually. And His saying: ﴿after it﴾ has an omitted addition, meaning: after His withholding. And from this verse, the Sufis named what is given to the Sufi from wealth, food, and other things: openings. And from this, Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, used to say: 'We were rained upon by the star of the opening,' and he would recite the verse.

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿O mankind, remember﴾ is an address to Quraysh. It is directed to every disbeliever, especially to the worshippers of other than Allah. He reminded them, exalted is He, of the blessing of Allah upon them in their creation and existence. Then He questioned them in a manner of confirmation and stopping by saying: ﴿Is there any creator other than Allah?﴾ That is: there is no deity except the creator, not what you worship from the idols. Hamzah read: 'ghayri' with a genitive case, which is an attribute to the word, and the news of the beginning is ﴿'He provides for you'﴾. Abu Ja'far, Shaqiq, and Ibn Wathab read it this way. The others read it with a nominative case, which is the reading of Shaybah ibn Nisaah, 'Isa, and al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan. This allows for three interpretations: the attribute is in its place and the news is implied, its estimation being: in existence, or in the world. And that 'ghayru' is the news of the beginning which is in the genitive case, and the nominative is on the exception, as if he said: Is there a creator except Allah? Thus, 'ghayru' takes the place of the subject after 'illa'. And His saying: ﴿from the heaven﴾ means: with rain, and from the 'earth' means: with vegetation. And His saying: ﴿So how are you turned away?﴾ means: there is no way you can be diverted 'in it' from the truth. (p-203) Then He consoled His Prophet ﷺ with what has passed from the condition of the messengers with the nations. And 'the matters' encompass all existing created things. To Allah is the return of all that, with the differences in their conditions. In this is a warning for the disbelievers and a promise for the Prophet ﷺ. Then He admonished all the scholars and warned them of the deception of this world with its delights and adornments, which distracts from the Hereafter. On that day, a person will say: O I wish I had sent forth for my life, and 'wish' will not benefit him on that day. And He warned of the deception of Satan. And His saying: ﴿Indeed, the promise of Allah is true﴾ is an expression of all His news, exalted and majestic, in good and enjoyment or punishment and retribution. The majority read: 'al-ghurur' with an open 'ghain', and it is Satan, as said by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both. Samak al-Abdi and Abu Haywah read: 'al-ghurur' with a closed 'ghain'. This could mean the plural of 'gharrin' like 'jalisin' and 'julusin', or it could be the plural of 'gharr', which is the source of 'gharrahu' which deceives him. It is also possible that it is a source, even if it is rare in transitive verbs for its source to come in the form of 'fu'ul', but it has come: 'lazimahu lazuman', and 'nahakahu al-marad nuhukan', so this is similar. Likewise, it is a source in His saying, exalted is He: ﴿So he deceived them with deception﴾ [Al-A'raf: 22].