As-Sajdah 32:6 - Linguistic Miracle

Only He, who did all this, knows the unseen and the seen. The ʿAzīz, the Raḥīm. The demonstrative pronoun in Arabic has the ability to contain qualities inside of it and hence how I translated it above. Most translations will normally translate it as “That is the knower of the unseen and the seen....” but this is incomplete.

Secondly, when two components of a sentence come together and both are defined and definite, it creates exclusivity. Therefore, I added the word “ only” in the translation.

ʿAzīz comes from the root ʿayn zāy zāy which means something solid and unbreakable.¹²³ ʿAzīz is one of the names of Allah it means the entity who is utterly

and completely strong and invincible; who overpowers and cannot be overpowered. Only His will dictates and rules. None can overwrite or stand against Him.

Raḥīm comes from the root rāʾ ḥāʾ mīm which means the womb of a mother and we

have covered its meaning earlier when we understood the word raḥmān. The main difference between raḥīm and raḥmān is that raḥīm denotes constant, stable and eternal mercy, care and love whereas raḥmān denotes Allah’s rahmah in this world, which is temporary.

The verse says that the one who did all this; created the heavens, the earth and whatever is between them in six days or stages, established Himself above the throne; sent down His Amr into the universe which He perfectly pre determined and pre ordained from the very start to its very end, only Him - only this entity - can know what can be seen by us and what cannot be seen. Only such an entity can be allknowing. The fact that Allah is able to do tadbīr means that He possesses all knowledge since He is able to determine something from the very start down to its very last extreme. One must possess all knowledge, from the beginning to the extreme end to do this. Next, one must be ʿAzīz to do this. He must have the power to do it, set things in motion and then bring them to completion with no other entity able to step in and disrupt it. So these two meanings are already indirectly implied by what has come before. Then Allah describes Himself with another quality - raḥīm - which comes from the root that denotes the strongest form of love in Arabic language.

Raḥīm answers the question why. Allah created the universe in six stages, then does tadbīr of the Amr. Everything that Allah did and does, from the creation of the universe in six days or stages, to the tadbīr of the Amr, is rooted in love. Creation is an act of love and kindness as Allah says in surah Hūd:

إِلَّا مَن رَّحِمَ رَبُّكَ ۚ وَلِذَٰلِكَ خَلَقَهُمْ

Except the one to whom Allah showed Rahmah (the same root as raḥīm); and for that did He create them.

All of what has been described and as we will see in the next verse, our creation itself, is rooted in love and kindness. Tadbīr is a continuous ongoing process. The previous

verse used the word tadbīr in the present tense. In Arabic, the present tense not only implies an action being done in the present, but also being done continuously, again and again. Why does Allah do all of this? Because He is kind and loving, more loving than a mother to her child. Raḥīm has the definite article al with it which implies perfection and the highest and perfect form of this love.

This all is coming in response to the accusation of the disbelievers - that we still hear to this day - that the Prophet ﷺ forged the Qurʾān to cause corruption. The Qurʾān is not here to cause corruption. Rather it is sent down from the one who is the most loving of all. This book is an act of love and kindness, not corruption and evil intention. But there is also a warning to these disbelievers. Yes Allah is raḥīm, but He is also al

ʿazīz, the one who overpowers and cannot be overpowered. I am loving and kind and this book is an act of love from Me towards you all, but if you reject it, then I am the invincible, the all powerful who overpowers and cannot be overpowered. I have decided to send down this book (verse 2) and I have done tadbīr of it. I have preordained its start and completion from its very start to its very last letter to be sent down and you cannot overpower Me in that nor do anything about it. Your plots against the prophet ﷺ and the Qurʾān will fail.

¹²³ Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal li-Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 3, p. 1453