Surah Faatir (35) — Ayah 1

(Ayah 1) ➊ {اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ فَاطِرِ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الْاَرْضِ : ’’فَطَرَ يَفْطِرُ فَطْرًا‘‘} (ض، ن) to create anew, to split. The surah begins with the claim that all excellence and all praise is due to Allah alone. For the explanation of {’’ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ ‘‘}, see the beginning of the commentary on Surah Al-Fatiha. After this, the entire surah presents arguments that He alone possesses all excellence and is the only true deity. Along with monotheism, there is also mention of prophethood, the Resurrection, and some related matters. Thus, the first argument for Allah being the only true deity is that He is the one who initially brought forth the heavens and the earth from nothing, without any precedent. By heavens and earth is meant the entire universe. When He is the Creator, how can anyone else be worthy of worship? This is explicitly mentioned ahead in verse (3). Then, after creating His creation, He did not just leave them, but provided for every need of theirs in the world and guided them towards it, as He said: « رَبُّنَا الَّذِيْۤ اَعْطٰى كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهٗ ثُمَّ هَدٰى» [ طٰہٰ : ۵۰ ] “Our Lord is He who gave everything its form and then guided (it).” In addition to natural guidance, He sent prophets and messengers, which is mentioned in verse (4). Then, it is obvious that when He created all this initially without any precedent, recreating it is not difficult for Him; this is explicitly mentioned in verse (5).

➋ { جَاعِلِ الْمَلٰٓىِٕكَةِ رُسُلًا : ’’ رُسُلًا ‘‘ ’’رَسُوْلٌ‘‘} (pattern of { فَعُوْلٌ} meaning {مَفْعُوْلٌ}) is the plural, meaning one who is sent with a message. That is, for the guidance of mankind, the prophets and messengers whom Allah chose, He made the angels His messengers to deliver His message to them. (See Surah Ash-Shura: 51) Among them, the greatest in rank is Jibreel (Gabriel), peace be upon him. His title is {’’اَلرُّوْحُ الْأَمِيْنُ‘‘ }. Sometimes He sends other angels to deliver messages or to execute His commands. As the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned regarding the mistreatment and excesses of the disbelievers at Ta’if: [ فَانْطَلَقْتُ وَ أَنَا مَهْمُوْمٌ عَلٰی وَجْهِيْ فَلَمْ أَسْتَفِقْ إِلَّا وَأَنَا بِقَرْنِ الثَّعَالِبِ فَرَفَعْتُ رَأْسِيْ فَإِذَا أَنَا بِسَحَابَةٍ قَدْ أَظَلَّتْنِيْ فَنَظَرْتُ فَإِذَا فِيْهَا جِبْرِيْلُ فَنَادَانِيْ فَقَالَ إِنَّ اللّٰهَ قَدْ سَمِعَ قَوْلَ قَوْمِكَ لَكَ وَمَا رَدُّوْا عَلَيْكَ وَ قَدْ بَعَثَ اللّٰهُ إِلَيْكَ مَلَكَ الْجِبَالِ لِتَأْمُرَهُ بِمَا شِئْتَ فِيْهِمْ فَنَادَانِيْ مَلَكُ الْجِبَالِ فَسَلَّمَ عَلَيَّ ثُمَّ قَالَ يَا مُحَمَّدُ! إِنَّ اللّٰهَ قَدْ سَمِعَ قَوْلَ قَوْمِكَ لَكَ، وَ أَنَا مَلَكُ الْجِبَالِ وَ قَدْ بَعَثَنِيْ رَبُّكَ إِلَيْكَ لِتَأْمُرَنِيْ بِأَمْرِكَ فَمَا شِئْتَ؟ إِنْ شِئْتَ أَنْ أُطْبِقَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَخْشَبَيْنِ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بَلْ أَرْجُوْ أَنْ يُّخْرِجَ اللّٰهُ مِنْ أَصْلاَبِهِمْ مَنْ يَّعْبُدُ اللّٰهَ وَحْدَهُ لَا يُشْرِكُ بِهِ شَيْئًا ] [ بخاري، بدء الخلق، باب إذا قال أحدکم آمین و الملائکۃ … : ۳۲۳۱۔ مسلم : ۱۷۹۵ ] “So I set out, overwhelmed with sorrow, and did not recover until I was at Qarn al-Tha’alib. I raised my head and saw a cloud shading me. I looked and saw Jibreel in it. He called me and said: ‘Allah has heard what your people said to you and how they responded to you, and He has sent the Angel of the Mountains to you so that you may command him as you wish regarding them.’ Then the Angel of the Mountains called me, greeted me, and said: ‘O Muhammad! Allah, the Exalted, has heard what your people said to you. I am the Angel of the Mountains, and your Lord has sent me to you so that you may command me as you wish. If you wish, I will crush them between the two mountains.’ I said: ‘Rather, I hope that Allah will bring forth from their descendants those who will worship Allah alone and not associate anything with Him.’”

Sometimes, angels are sent to give glad tidings or guidance to righteous servants other than prophets, either in dreams or while awake, as happened with the mothers of Isma’il (Ishmael), Musa (Moses), and Maryam (Mary), peace be upon them, and as He sends angels to strengthen the hearts of the fighters in the battlefield. Sometimes He sends them as a test, as in the story of the bald man, the leper, and the blind man mentioned in Sahih Bukhari (3464). Allah mentioned the angels here, after the creation of the heavens and the earth, as evidence of {’’ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ ‘‘}, because they hold a very honored position with Him, yet they are still His servants, as He said: « بَلْ عِبَادٌ مُّكْرَمُوْنَ» [ الأنبیاء : ۲۶ ] “Rather, they are honored servants.” Their duty is to convey Allah’s commands and to execute them, as He said: « فَالْمُدَبِّرٰتِ اَمْرًا » [ النازعات : ۵ ] “Then those who arrange affairs.” This is also meant to draw the attention of the polytheists to the fact that the angels whom you have taken as deities have no authority of their own; their status is merely that of a messenger (envoy) who has no say of his own, but conveys the message of the sender or acts upon it.

➌ { اُولِيْۤ اَجْنِحَةٍ مَّثْنٰى وَ ثُلٰثَ وَ رُبٰعَ :} In describing the perfection of His power in the creation of angels, He mentioned their {’’ اَجْنِحَةٍ ‘‘}, which is the plural of {’’جَنَاحٌ‘‘} (with a fathah on the jeem). This word also means hand, arm, and side, but in the context of birds, it means “wing,” as He said: « وَ لَا طٰٓىِٕرٍ يَّطِيْرُ بِجَنَاحَيْهِ » [ الأنعام : ۳۸ ] “And no bird that flies with its two wings.” For the angels’ coming and going between the heavens and the earth, wings are most suitable. Now, Allah knows best, or whoever has seen them in their original form, what the nature of these {’’ اَجْنِحَةٍ ‘‘} is—whether they are only for flying, or also serve as arms. The verse does indicate that they have at least two wings, and Allah knows best the upper limit. The mention of three and four shows that there are angels with more than two wings, and it also shows that it is not necessary for angels’ wings to be in even numbers; they can be odd as well.

➍ { يَزِيْدُ فِي الْخَلْقِ مَا يَشَآءُ:} This phrase can have several meanings, and all can be intended at once, as comprehensive words are like this. One is that Allah, when creating angels, increases the number of wings of whomever He wills, thereby greatly increasing their ability to fly. Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) reports: [ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ رَأَی جِبْرِيْلَ، لَهُ سِتُّمِائَةِ جَنَاحٍ ] [ بخاري، التفسیر، باب قولہ تعالٰی : « فأوحی إلی عبدہ ما أوحی » : ۴۸۵۷ ] “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw Jibreel (peace be upon him) (in his original form); he had six hundred wings.”

The second meaning is that Allah increases in whatever He wills and in whomever He wills among all His creation, for example, in height or shortness, beauty, intellect, courage, generosity or miserliness, highness or lowness, strength or weakness—in short, in countless aspects of quantity and quality, He increases as He wills. The third meaning is that He continues to increase in whatever He wills among His creation, creating new creatures, new planets, new galaxies, new animals, minerals, and plants. In Surah Ar-Rahman it is said: « كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِيْ شَاْنٍ » [ الرحمٰن : ۲۹ ] “Every day He is in (a new) affair.” This refutes the Jews, who say that after the creation of Adam (peace be upon him), Allah rested on the seventh day and does not create anything new.

➎ { اِنَّ اللّٰهَ عَلٰى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيْرٌ : ’’ اِنَّ ‘‘} is generally used to state the reason for the previous statement, i.e., Allah increases in creation as He wills and creates the heavens and the earth and the winged messenger angels, because He is fully capable of everything. There, the concept of any inability to fulfill any will does not exist.