Ikhlas

Now we know that as with all things related to matters dating back to the earliest days of Islam,

there are always disagreements.

So when commentators begin their tafsirs in the usual way,

by stating the place of revelation,

whereas most agree that the surah was revealed in Makkah

there are some who report it as Madinan.

Similarly with descriptions of the occasion of it's revelation,

some commentators report traditions that it was in response to questions from a group of Jews,

while others that the questions came from polytheists,

whereas Muqatil and others trace the questions specifically to 'Amir b. Abu Tufayl b. Sa'sa'a al-Amiri

and al-Arbad b. Qays al-Sahmi.

Nonetheless, all are reported as asking the same questions,

as to what this God was like and where this God came from.

And with that, God revealed to the Messenger the words he should use in reply,

words that are now so familiar to muslims all around the world.

For most commentators, the crucial aspect to consider with regard to the first ayat of the surah depends on the grammatical way the words are used,

which affects their essential meanings,

dealing with things like why it is said 'Huwa is God is One', and not just 'God is One'.

So Huwa is seen as an absence of any possible definition, beyond any possible human imagining,

whereas with Allah we apply a Name to God, by means of which we approach understanding

by imagining all the aspects of God that we know of as the Beautiful Names held within the Name Allah.

The word 'Ahad', meaning 'One', being at the heart of Tawhid, is also inevitably the focus of much debate and opinion, beginning with its grammar,

as that is how it is distinguished from the word Wahid which also means 'one'.

For Wahid means one of a kind that can be repeated to make many,

whereas Ahad means One, the like of which there is no other.

Many commentators explain that if you say something like 'No one person came forward' it could mean that two or three came forward, and that is where Wahid would be used.

But if you say 'No one came forward', that is like Ahad, as the word is used in a way that also discounts more than one.

Nonetheless, Al-Wahid is also a Name of Allah, and Hud reports that 'Abd Allah b. Mas'ud would recite 'qul huwa'llahu al-wahid',

and Zamakhshari reports that Al-A'mash did the same,

but these seem to be exceptional cases.

Much more debate took place around the issue of whether a Nun of nunation should be pronounced at the end of the word Ahad when continuing through to the next ayat,

a matter of much disagreement amongst grammarians still.

But God knows best.

And the next ayat 'Allahu 'l-Samad' may well have even more written about it than the previous one,

partly because the repetition of the word Allah makes possible a subtle grammatical difference of type between the words Ahad and Samad,

but also because of the range of meanings associated with the word 'Samad'.

The primary meaning is the totally Self-Sufficient, and the One upon Whom all depends,

God being absolutely independent while being the One that all creation needs.

Another meaning of Samad is that Allah has no space within, no inner structure, no hollowness to fill,

no way to take in any kind of food or drink,

Self-Sufficient, no inside and outside, and nothing entering or emerging.

Maybudi says that al-Samad is beyond all comprehension and perception, be it intellectual, mystical, or physical,

and Tabrisi associates it with the idea of God's eternity,

One who has always been and always will be.

But the meanings associated with al-Samad are many,

and al-Razi reports from a number of commentators as many as 26 different associated meanings.

But the eternal Self-Sufficiency of al-Samad leads directly to the following ayat,

or some say two ayats,

one for each of the phrases in 'lam yalid wa lam yulad', not born and has no offspring,

One from or out of nothing else, and from Whom nothing separates.

Which leads to the final ayat, 'wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan Ahad',

and like Whom is no other One.

There is no other.

Maybudi quotes Qushayri as saying that each verse provides an explanation of the one that precedes it.

So when they ask 'Who is this Huwa?', you say 'the One'.

When they ask 'Who is the One?', you say 'The One upon Whom all depends'.

When they ask 'Who is the One upon Whom all depends?', you say 'The One Who was not born and has no offspring'.

And when they ask 'Who is this One who was not born and has no offspring?', you say 'The One like Whom there is no other'.

And all this follows the word 'Qul' 'Say', which is a command, an order to the speaker,

and it is not usual for someone told to say something to also repeat that order 'Say' before saying what has been ordered.

It is a strange way of answering a question by putting the word 'Say' before your answer,

and various commentators report that it was known for some to recite the surah omitting the word 'Qul',

But Burusawi points out that here in this Surah, the one being commanded is not just the one being addressed,

namely the Messenger,

but everyone that is tested in the same way that he was tested,

so the command is retained in order that it might endure across time as a favour from Allah to God's servants.

And so this short surah contains a wealth of meaning for those who search for understanding,

a diversity of meaning that can perhaps be summed up by the variety of its titles,

for it is not just known as 'Ikhlas', 'Sincere Devotion', but many other names.

Razi alone gives 20 different names used for this wonderful surah,

all related to different approaches to understanding its deeper meanings.

The Messenger said that this surah was the foundation of the seven heavens and the seven earths,

and

'Everything has a light, and the light of the Qur'an is 'Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad'.