سُوْرَةُ الْاِخْلَاصِ
Surah Al-Ikhlaas (112) — Ayah 1
قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ﴿1﴾
Translation by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan & Dr. Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali
Say (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم): "He is Allâh, (the) One.
Word by Word — Arabic, Transliteration & Meaning
قُلْ
qul
Say
هُوَ
huwa
He
ٱللَّهُ
l-lahu
(is) Allah
أَحَدٌ
aḥadun
the One
Tafsir Taiseer ul-Quran — Maulana Abdul Rahman Kilani
Tafsir Taiseer ul-Quran (Facilitation of the Quran) is a comprehensive Quran commentary by Maulana Abdul Rahman Kilani, a renowned Salafi (Ahl al-Hadith) scholar from Pakistan. Known for his eloquent and accessible writing style, Kilani authored this tafsir with a focus on clarity — making Quranic meanings understandable to the common reader. The tafsir provides detailed historical context for verses related to battles and expeditions, and firmly refutes modernist ideologies using strong scriptural evidence. It is widely regarded as an invaluable resource for understanding the Quran and countering deviant interpretations. The tafsir is originally written in Urdu, translated to English by tohed.com.
1. Say: He is Allah, the One [2].
[1]
The Astonishment and Questions of the Disbelievers Regarding Allah’s Oneness and Uniqueness:
From the style of the verse itself, it is evident that this is an answer to a question. You ﷺ were calling towards the worship of Allah alone, while the entire world in the era of Prophethood was immersed in various forms of polytheism. Therefore, you were asked several times about the essence of Allah, and questions came from various sects. The first to raise this question were the polytheists of Makkah, who would make every beautiful stone into a deity and considered the angels to be Allah’s daughters. The nature of this question is clarified by the following hadith: Sayyiduna Ubayy bin Ka‘b narrates that the polytheists said to you ﷺ, “Describe to us the lineage of your Lord.” So Allah revealed this surah, that you should say to them, “He is alone. He is ﴿الله صمد﴾ and ﴿صمد﴾ is the one who is neither born of anyone nor does anyone come from Him. Because whoever is born of someone will surely die, and whoever dies will have an heir. But Allah will neither die nor will He have any heir, nor does He have any ﴿كفو﴾.” The narrator says that the meaning of ﴿كفو﴾ is that there is none like Him, nor equal to Him, and nothing is comparable to Him. [ترمذي۔ كتاب التفسير] After the polytheists, whenever anyone asked you ﷺ about Allah, you would recite this surah to them.
[2]
The Number of Gods Among Different Nations:
﴿اَحَدٌ﴾ means unparalleled, unique, matchless; in this sense, this word applies only to the Divine Being. For others besides Allah, the word “wahid” (one) is used. It should be noted that for counting one, two, three, the words wahid, ithnayn, thalathah are used. Instead of wahid, ﴿احد﴾ is not used. However, in two cases, the word ﴿احد﴾ comes as a synonym for wahid:
(1) In the composition of numerical names, such as ahada ‘ashar (eleven), ﴿احدهما﴾ (either one of the two), ﴿احَدٌ مِّنْكُمْ﴾ (any one of you), ﴿اَحَدُكُمْ ﴾ (one of you), yawm al-ahad (Sunday), etc.
(2) In the case of negation, it is used only for those with intellect, such as: ﴿لَيْسَ فِي الدَّارِ اَحَدٌ﴾ (there is no one in the house), whereas the word wahid is general, commonly used for all except Allah, and for Allah only in the case where one of His attributes is also mentioned, such as: ﴿هُوَ اللّٰه الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّار﴾ [13: 16] meaning Allah is the One who is alone, subduing all. In this verse, it is stated that Allah is only one. Not two, as is the belief of the Magians that the god of goodness is Yazdan and the god of evil is Ahriman. Not three, as is the belief of the Christians that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all three gods, and together they make one god. Nor as the Hindus believe that God, matter, and spirit are all three eternal. Nor thirty-three crores, as the Hindus count the number of their deities. Rather, He is one and only one.
[1]
The Astonishment and Questions of the Disbelievers Regarding Allah’s Oneness and Uniqueness:
From the style of the verse itself, it is evident that this is an answer to a question. You ﷺ were calling towards the worship of Allah alone, while the entire world in the era of Prophethood was immersed in various forms of polytheism. Therefore, you were asked several times about the essence of Allah, and questions came from various sects. The first to raise this question were the polytheists of Makkah, who would make every beautiful stone into a deity and considered the angels to be Allah’s daughters. The nature of this question is clarified by the following hadith: Sayyiduna Ubayy bin Ka‘b narrates that the polytheists said to you ﷺ, “Describe to us the lineage of your Lord.” So Allah revealed this surah, that you should say to them, “He is alone. He is ﴿الله صمد﴾ and ﴿صمد﴾ is the one who is neither born of anyone nor does anyone come from Him. Because whoever is born of someone will surely die, and whoever dies will have an heir. But Allah will neither die nor will He have any heir, nor does He have any ﴿كفو﴾.” The narrator says that the meaning of ﴿كفو﴾ is that there is none like Him, nor equal to Him, and nothing is comparable to Him. [ترمذي۔ كتاب التفسير] After the polytheists, whenever anyone asked you ﷺ about Allah, you would recite this surah to them.
[2]
The Number of Gods Among Different Nations:
﴿اَحَدٌ﴾ means unparalleled, unique, matchless; in this sense, this word applies only to the Divine Being. For others besides Allah, the word “wahid” (one) is used. It should be noted that for counting one, two, three, the words wahid, ithnayn, thalathah are used. Instead of wahid, ﴿احد﴾ is not used. However, in two cases, the word ﴿احد﴾ comes as a synonym for wahid:
(1) In the composition of numerical names, such as ahada ‘ashar (eleven), ﴿احدهما﴾ (either one of the two), ﴿احَدٌ مِّنْكُمْ﴾ (any one of you), ﴿اَحَدُكُمْ ﴾ (one of you), yawm al-ahad (Sunday), etc.
(2) In the case of negation, it is used only for those with intellect, such as: ﴿لَيْسَ فِي الدَّارِ اَحَدٌ﴾ (there is no one in the house), whereas the word wahid is general, commonly used for all except Allah, and for Allah only in the case where one of His attributes is also mentioned, such as: ﴿هُوَ اللّٰه الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّار﴾ [13: 16] meaning Allah is the One who is alone, subduing all. In this verse, it is stated that Allah is only one. Not two, as is the belief of the Magians that the god of goodness is Yazdan and the god of evil is Ahriman. Not three, as is the belief of the Christians that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all three gods, and together they make one god. Nor as the Hindus believe that God, matter, and spirit are all three eternal. Nor thirty-three crores, as the Hindus count the number of their deities. Rather, He is one and only one.
