قُلْ هَلْ مِن شُرَكَآئِكُم مَّن يَبْدَؤُا۟ ٱلْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُۥ ۚ قُلِ ٱللَّهُ يَبْدَؤُا۟ ٱلْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُۥ ۖ فَأَنَّىٰ تُؤْفَكُونَ 34
Translations
Say, "Are there of your 'partners' any who begins creation and then repeats it?" Say, "Allāh begins creation and then repeats it, so how are you deluded?"
Transliteration
Qul hal min shurakaa'ikum man yabda'u al-khalqa thumma yu'iduhu quli Allahu yabda'u al-khalqa thumma yu'iduhu fa-anna tu'fakun
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah challenges the polytheists by asking whether any of their false deities possess the power to originate creation and then restore it, asserting that only Allah possesses this divine prerogative. Ibn Kathir explains that the ability to create from nothing and resurrect is exclusive to Allah, making the worship of partners alongside Him logically and theologically absurd. The rhetorical question 'fa-anna tu'fakun' (how then are you turned away) emphasizes the irrationality of associating partners with Allah despite this clear evidence of His unique creative power.
Revelation Context
This ayah appears in the Meccan surah of Yunus, revealed during the early period when the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was confronting Meccan polytheism. The surah's broader context addresses the folly of shirk (associating partners with Allah) and presents logical arguments for monotheism, particularly through the theme of creation and resurrection as proofs of Allah's oneness.
Related Hadiths
The hadith in Sahih Bukhari (Book 97, Hadith 1) where the Prophet said, 'The most grievous sin is that you associate a partner with Allah, though it is He who created you.' This directly relates to the ayah's refutation of shirk through creation.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches that recognizing Allah's exclusive creative power should logically lead us to worship Him alone; it challenges believers to use reason and observation of creation as a path to strengthening their monotheistic faith and rejecting false gods in all forms.