Surah Al-An’am Ayat 1 (6:1 Quran) With Tafsir

Ala-Maududi

(6:1) All praise is for Allah alone, Who created the heavens and the earth, and brought into being light and darkness, and yet those who have rejected the call of the Truth ascribe others to be equals to their Lord.^[1]

1. Remember that, although polytheists, the Arabs to whom these verses are addressed did acknowledge God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, Who causes day to alternate with night, and Who has brought into existence the sun and the moon. None of them attributed any of these acts to either al-LAt, al-Hubal, al-‘UzzA or any other deities. Why, then,’should they prostrate themselves before others beside the Creator? Why should they offer their prayers and supplicatiom to any but God? See Towards Understanding the Qur’an, (Surah Fatiha, ayat 2) note 2, and (Surah Al-Baqarah, ayat 165) note 163. The actual word that has been used in the original text for ‘darkness’ is in the plural. The contrast with the singular ‘light’ is significant: whereas light is one, there can be innumerable degrees of darkness, which is the absence of light.

Ibn-Kathir

1. All praise be to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, and originated the darkness and the light, yet those who disbelieve hold others as equal with their Lord. 2. He it is Who has created you from clay, and then has decreed a stated term. And there is with Him another determined term, yet you doubt. 3. And He is Allah, in the heavens and the earth, He knows what you conceal and what you reveal, and He knows what you earn.

Allah praises and glorifies His Most Honorable Self for creating the heavens and earth, as a dwelling for His servants, and for making the darkness and the light to benefit them in the night and the day. In this Ayah, Allah describes darkness in the plural, Zulumat ﴿where Zulmah is singular for darkness﴾, while describing the light in the singular, An-Nur, because An-Nur is more honored. In other Ayat, Allah said,

(To the right and to the lefts.) ﴿16:48﴾ Near the end of this Surah (chapter 6), Allah also said;

(And verily, this is my straight path, so follow it, and follow no (other) ways, for they will separate you away from His way.) ﴿6:153﴾ Allah said next,

(Yet those who disbelieve hold others as equal with their Lord.) meaning, in spite of all this, some of Allah’s servants disbelieve in Him and hold others as partners and rivals with Him. Some of Allah’s servants claimed a wife and a son for Allah, hallowed be He far above what they attribute to Him. Allah’s statement,

(He it is Who has created you from clay,) refers to the father of mankind, Adam, from whom mankind originated, multiplied in numbers and spread about, east and west. Allah said,

(Then has decreed a stated term. And there is with Him another determined term…) His saying;

(Then has decreed a stated term,) refers to death, while,

(And there is with Him another determined term…) refers to the Hereafter, according to Sa`id bin Jubayr who reported this from Ibn `Abbas. Similar statements were narrated from Mujahid, `Ikrimah, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, Ad-Dahhak, Zayd bin Aslam, `Atiyyah, As-Suddi, Muqatil bin Hayyan and others. Ibn `Abbas and Mujahid said that,

(And then has decreed a stated term,) is the term of this earthly life, while,

(And there is with Him another determined term) refers to man’s extent of life until he dies as mentioned in Allah’s statement;

(It is He, Who takes your souls by night (when you are asleep), and has knowledge of all that you have done by day, then He raises (wakes) you up again that a term appointed (life) be fulfilled.) ﴿6:60﴾ The meaning of Allah’s statement,

(With Him) is that none but Him knows when it will occur. Allah said in other Ayat,

(The knowledge thereof is with my Lord. None can reveal its time but He.) ﴿7:187﴾, and,

(They ask you about the Hour — when will be its appointed time You have no knowledge to say anything about it. To your Lord belongs (the knowledge of) the term thereof.) ﴿79:42-44﴾ Allah said,

(Yet you doubt.) the coming of the (last) Hour, according to As-Suddi. Allah said next,

(And He is Allah in the heavens and the earth, He knows what you conceal and what you reveal, and He knows what you earn.) Meaning, it is He Who is called Allah, throughout the heavens and the earth, that is, it is He who is worshipped, singled out, whose divinity is believed in by the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth. They call Him Allah, and they supplicate to Him in fear and hope, except those who disbelieve among the Jinns and mankind. In another Ayah, Allah said;

(It is He Who is God in the heavens and the earth.)﴿43:84﴾ meaning, He is the God of those in heaven and those on earth, and He knows all affairs, public and secret.

(And He knows what you earn) all the good and bad deeds that you perform.