Transliteration:( Yaaa aiyuhan naasut taqoo Rabbakumul lazee khalaqakum min nafsinw waahidatinw wa khalaqa minhaa zawjahaa wa bas sa minhumaa rijaalan kaseeranw wa nisaaa'aa; wattaqul laahallazee tasaaa 'aloona bihee wal arhaam; innal laaha kaana 'alaikum Raqeeba )
1. By "fear" is meant that the disbelievers should accept faith and the believers should abstain from sins and engage in doing good deeds. Piety is of many types, while in the word "mankind" both the believers and non-believers are included, not jinns as they are not addressed here.
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2. By this is meant that the entire mankind is created as the progeny of Hazrat Adam (May Allah be pleased with him) and Bibi Hawa (May Allah be pleased with her). However, Bibi Hawa (May Allah be pleased with her) was created from the body of Hazrat Adam without sperm. It should be remembered that many worms come from the body of a man but, they cannot be regarded as his offspring or children. Just as the head of the house is responsible for the household, likewise mankind too is the responsibility of one person and he is Hazrat Adam (May Allah be pleased with him).
3. In this verse there is a slight hint that every human being should work for the betterment of his fellow beings because all human beings are branches of one tree i.e. they are the flowers and fruit of one tree. Hence, no Muslim should show pride in respect of race and nationality because all nations are one.
4. By "You ask" (for your rights) that you ask from one another for your rights in the name of your Lord. He whose name is Bountiful fulfills all your needs, thus, if His attribute is Bountiful then how Bountiful, will be Your Lord Himself!
5. Maintain good healthy relations with your relatives. Do not cut any ties with them. The Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said:†If desires
anyone will increase in his wealth and age. he should maintain good ties with his relatives."
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1. O mankind! Have Taqwa of your Lord, Who created you from a single person, and from him He created his mate, and from them both He created many men and women, and have Taqwa of Allah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and revere the wombs. Surely, Allah is always watching over you.
Allah commands His creatures to have Taqwa of Him by worshipping Him Alone without partners. He also reminds to them of His ability, in that He created them all from a single person, Adam, peace be unto him.
(And from him He created his wife) Hawwa’ (Eve), who was created from Adam’s left rib, from his back while he was sleeping. When Adam woke up and saw Hawwa’, he liked her and had affection for her, and she felt the same toward him. An authentic Hadith states,
(Woman was created from a rib. Verily, the most curved portion of the rib is its upper part, so, if you should try to straighten it, you will break it, but if you leave it as it is, it will remain crooked.) Allah’s statement,
(And from them both He created many men and women;) means, Allah created from Adam and Hawwa’ many men and women and distributed them throughout the world in various shapes, characteristics, colors and languages. In the end, their gathering and return will be to Allah. Allah then said,
(And have Taqwa of Allah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights) and revere the wombs), protect yourself from Allah by your acts of obedience to Him. Allah’s statement,
(through Whom you demand your mutual (rights)), is in reference to when some people say, “I ask you by Allah, and then by the relation of the Rahim (the womb, i.e. my relationship to you)”, according to Ibrahim, Mujahid and Al-Hasan. Ad-Dahhak said; “Fear Allah Whom you invoke when you conduct transactions and contracts.” “And revere the womb by not cutting the relations of the womb, but keep and honor them, as Ibn `Abbas, `Ikrimah, Mujahid, Al-Hasan, Ad-Dahhak, Ar-Rabi`, and others have stated. Allah’s statement,
(Surely, Allah is always watching over you.) means, He watches all your deeds and sees your every circumstance. In another Ayah, Allah said;
(And Allah is Witness over all things.) ﴿58:6﴾. An authentic Hadith states,
(Worship Allah as if you see Him, for even though you cannot see Him, He sees you.) This part of the Ayah encourages having a sense of certainty that Allah is always watching, in a complete and perfect manner. Allah mentioned that He has created mankind from a single father and a single mother, so that they feel compassion for each other and are kind to the weaker among them. In his Sahih, Muslim recorded that Jarir bin `Abdullah Al-Bajali said that a delegation from Mudar came to the Messenger of Allah , and he saw their state, wearing striped woolen clothes due to poverty. After the Zuhr prayer, the Messenger of Allah stood up and gave a speech in which he recited,
(O mankind! Have Taqwa of your Lord, Who created you from a single person,) until the end of the Ayah. He also recited,
(O you who believe! Have Taqwa of Allah. And let every person look to what he has sent forth for the tomorrow) ﴿59:18﴾. He also encouraged them to give charity, saying,
(A man gave Sadaqah from his Dinar, from his Dirham, from his Sa` of wheat, from his Sa` of dates) until the end of the Hadith. This narration was also collected by Ahmad and the Sunan compilers from Ibn Mas`ud.
(4:1) O men! Fear your Lord Who created you from a single being and out of it created its mate; and out of the two spread many men and women.[1] Fear Allah in Whose name you plead for rights, and heed the ties of kinship. Surely, Allah is ever watchful over you.
1. What are the mutual rights of human beings, what are the principles on which a sound and stable family life can be established, are questions that are discussed a little further on in this surah. As an appropriate introduction to the subject, the surah opens by exhorting the believers to fear God and to avoid courting His displeasure, and by urging them to recognize that all human beings have sprung from the same root and that all of them are, therefore, of one another’s flesh and blood. The expression ‘Who created you from a single being (nafs)’ indicates that the creation of the human species began with the creation of one individual. At another place, the Qur’an specifies that the one person from whom the human race spread in the world was Adam. For Adam being the progenitor of mankind see Towards Understanding the Qur’an, (Surah Al-Baqarah, ayat 31) and (Surah Al-Aaraf, ayat 11).
The details how out of that ‘being’ its mate was created are not known to us. The explanation which is generally given by the commentators of the Qur’an and which is also found in the Bible is that Eve was, created out of a rib of Adam. (The Talmud is even more detailed in that it states that Eve was created out of Adam’s thirteenth rib on the left side.) The Qur’an, however, is silent on the matter and the tradition which is adduced in support of this statement does not mean what it is often thought to be. It is thus better that we leave the matter in the same state of ambiguity in which it was left by God, rather than waste our time trying to determine, in detail, the actual process of the creation of man’s mate.
The author alludes to, but does not quote, the text of the following tradition:
Muslim, ‘Rida’ah’, 61 and 62; Tirmidhi, ‘Talaq” 12; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 2, pp. 428, 449, 497, 530 and vol. 6, p. 279 – Ed.
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