Al-Ikhlas 112:1 - Linguistic Miracle

Say, ‘He is Allah, the aḥad.’

or Say, ‘ Huwa, Allah is aḥad.’

Firstly, why is the verse structured as “Say - Allah is aḥad?” Why not simply say “Allah is aḥad?”

This is for two reasons. Firstly to show the importance of this statement. The Prophet ﷺ is being told to announce this, to say it publicly and make effort so this may reach people. “Say’ means ‘announce.’

‘ Announce and proclaim publicly that Allah is aḥad.

Secondly, it is to demonstrate the Qurʾān is from Allah and not from the Prophet ﷺ . When revelation came down to the Prophet ﷺ , it would have been said to him ‘Say Allah is aḥad.’ He is being commanded to announce it. The announcement is ‘Allah is Ahad’ not ‘Say - Allah is aḥad.’ It is a demonstration that the Prophet ﷺ preaches the Qurʾān exactly as he receives it, neither taking anything from it nor adding to it and that these are not his words but rather of Allah Himself who sends it down to him and he proclaims it to people in exactly the same manner he receives them. Next is the pronoun ( هو Huwa). It is the masculine singular pronoun for the third

person in Arabic. Above, I gave two translations of the verse. In the first version, I translated this pronoun as He but left it untranslated in the second translation. This is because there are two possible meanings of this pronoun in this verse.

1. It is as if a question is being asked to the Prophet ﷺ which is not mentioned in the surah. Namely - Muhammad !ﷺ Who is your God? The Prophet ﷺ is being told to answer them with “He is Allah, the aḥad.”

2. This can be an anticipatory pronoun of rhetorical magnification ( )ضمير الشأن This is used for the purpose of magnifying the importance of the statement about to be made. When something extremely important is about to be said, this pronoun is used before it to convey that what is about to be said is extremely important, so pay attention. By using this pronoun, the verse is basically saying that the most important thing of note and importance is that Allah is aḥad.

Now the word aḥad. The word aḥad is either only used in contexts of negation, prohibition or in contexts of conditions by itself. Examples below: Negative Context

فَمَا مِنكُم مِّنْ أَ حَدٍ عَنْهُ حَاجِزِينَ

There is not any one of you who can shield from Him [Al-Ḥāqqah 69:47] لَسْتُنَّ كَأَحَدٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلنِّسَآءِ

You are not like any one of the women.

Condition

[Al-Aḥzāb 33:32]

وَإِنْ أَحَدٌۭ مِّنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ ٱسْتَجَارَكَ

If any one of the polytheists seeks your protection… [At-Tawbah 9:6] The word aḥad may appear in affirmative clauses but only when it occurs in a genitive construction; in such cases, it retains an indefinite, non-specific sense (“any one of”) as can be seen in the last example. It denotes belonging to a certain group of people. So the only way we use the word aḥad in positive contexts is in a genitive construction like the above two examples. but we do not use the word aḥad by itself in affirmative contexts.

But this verse of the Qurʾān does exactly that. It uses the word aḥad by itself, without any genitive construction, in an affirmative context.

It says in Muʿjam al Ishtiqaqi:

والشيوع يتحقق . لكن من أفراد المضاف إليه ،) وإذا وقع في سياق إيجاب وكان مضافًا ظل معناه (أيّ واحد

وإن وقع في سياق إيجاب وهو غير مضاف تحول . بعدم قصد التعيين وهو بذلك المعنى في القرآن كله في الحالتين كما في قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ، وعبّر لفظ (أحد) عن الانفراد المطلق ، معنى الشيوع إلى إطلاق

When it occurs in an affirmative context while being in an iḍāfah (genitive construction), it retains the meaning of “any one”... If, however, it occurs in an affirmative context without being in iḍāfah, the meaning of generality shifts into absolute singularity, and the word Aḥad then expresses absolute oneness and singularity, as in: قل هو الله أحد

Say, “Huwa, Allah is Ahad”

So aḥad has been uniquely used in a way the Arabs did not usually use it. It denotes absolute singularity. A good translation of aḥad in my view is one and only. Therefore, “Allah is aḥad” can be translated as “Allah is the one and only.”

This verse of surah al- Ikhlās is enough by itself to understand what tawḥīd is and who Allah is. Allah is the one and only in everything. He is the one and only in all His attributes. The 99 names of Allah that we well know, they represent attributes of Allah. All of those names and attributes, in their perfect form and state, belong to Allah alone and no one else. Allah is the one and only in that He alone created everything, He alone is all hearing, all seeing, all wise, all powerful, the absolute sovereign, the ultimate king and ruler. The list goes on. The attributes and qualities that He describes Himself with and all the attributes and qualities that He possesses, He alone and nobody else, possess them in the manner He does.

If there is a person who is known for his kindness, it does not mean there are not others who are kind too. A king may have power, but it could be that there are other kings who possess similar power. But when it comes to Allah, there is nobody with the same attributes. Nobody is as kind as Him. Nobody possesses the power that He does. Nobody can see the way He sees. Nobody can hear the way He hears. Nobody can do anything the way He does them. Nobody possesses any attribute the way He does.

This one verse is enough to understand Tawḥīd. When you hear any name of Allah, know that Allah is the one and only in that name. When you hear any attribute of Allah, know that no one possesses that attribute the way He does. Once a person realizes this, he will not bother relying on anyone other than Allah. Complete understanding of this one single verse will prevent people from the false practices that are now so common among them such as grave worship, making prayers to

dead people, visiting shrines and other such false practices. Allah alone can relieve a person from his troubles and He alone and no one else, is worthy that prayers and supplications be directed to Him. He alone can help you and relieve you of your troubles. He is the one and only.

The pronoun Huwa, which was used to magnify the importance of the statement that Allah is aḥad is profound. The most important thing a human being needs to realize in his life is that Allah is aḥad. That Allah is the one and only. There is no success without Tawḥīd; and this verse of al-Ikhlās is the very core of tawḥīd. It is tawḥīd summarized in three words. Allah is aḥad. The fact that Allah is aḥad, is the most important thing a human being needs to understand.

Lastly, aḥad is the same word as echad used to describe God in Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema. We believe in the God who is perfect and indivisible unlike the Christians who use the same word to imply a complex unity. The Qurʾān is clear. God is indivisible, unique and only one.

If you want to know the Islamic creed regarding God, this surah suffices you.