وَلَئِن سَأَلتَهُم مَن خَلَقَ السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضَ لَيَقولُنَّ اللَّهُ ۚ قُلِ الحَمدُ لِلَّهِ ۚ بَل أَكثَرُهُم لا يَعلَمونَ
If you ask them: ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they will surely say: ‘Allah.’ Say: ‘All praise belongs to Allah!’ Yet most of them do not know.
EXEGESIS
Layaqūlunna (they will surely say) is composed of the plural verb yaqūlūna (they will say) prefixed with the emphatic lām (lām al-taʾkīd) which is translated as ‘certainly’ or ‘indeed’, occurring here specifically as the complement or predicate of an implicit oath (lām al-qasam). Oaths also convey emphasis. Thereafter, the verb is appended with the emphatic suffix nūn (nūn al-taʾkīd), also denoting emphasis, becoming layaqūlunna, literally meaning: I swear, they will certainly, certainly say …
EXPOSITION
If you ask them: ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they will surely say: ‘Allah.’ The polytheists of Mecca and its surrounding areas acknowledged Allah as the creator of everything, a deeply ingrained belief inherited from their forefathers, tracing back to the legacy of Prophet Abraham (a) and Prophet Ishmael (a). Remarkably, polytheism was a relatively new development in the region, dating back to around four centuries before the emergence of Islam.
This shift is historically attributed to the influence of ʿAmr ibn Luḥayy, a Khuzāʾī chief of Arabia, who encountered idol worship during his travels to the Levant. Impressed by the reverence shown towards idols, ʿAmr ibn Luḥayy became convinced that these figures could serve as intermediaries to God. Consequently, the polytheists of Mecca adopted a dualistic approach to worship, simultaneously honouring Allah and worshipping the idols. This practice led them to assert that the idols are our intercessors with Allah (10:18), or we only worship them so that they may bring us near to Allah (39:3). As a result, the polytheists exhibited a sense of ambivalence towards their worship practices, grappling with the tensions between their longstanding belief in Allah and their newfound fascination with idolatry.
This verse aims to criticise and censure the polytheists and to ridicule their intellect since they would undoubtedly admit that God is the creator of the heavens and the earth if asked. Thus, if He is the creator of the heavens and the earth, where creation is not separate from the management of the same, then God is both creator and manager of what He has created. In light of that, one must ask: how do they worship other than Him? This proves the deficiency of their thought and intellect. For to admit that God is the creator of everything necessitates the acknowledgment that He is the manager of the same too, which in turn necessitates Him being the only one worthy of worship and none else apart from Him.
When the Prophet’s adversarial interlocutors admitted that God is the creator of the heavens and the earth, which role is necessarily accompanied with Him being the Lord nourisher and administrator, God instructs him to praise Him since the adversarial interlocutors have unwittingly admitted to the contrary of what they claimed, and also for guiding the believers and granting them the good fortune (tawfīq) to know Him. Thus the verse instructs, Say: ‘All praise belongs to Allah!’
It then describes the majority with the words, Yet most of them do not know, meaning that most of the polytheists are ignorant of God’s nourishing, sustaining lordship, and while a few know the truth, they oppose it due to their whims and desires and in preference for the adornments and sparkle of the life of this world (27:14).
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- ʿUmar ibn Udhaynah relates from Imam al-Bāqir (a), who said: ‘The Messenger of God (s) said: “Every newborn is born on the primordial nature, meaning with the knowledge that God is his creator. That is the reason for the speech of God, mighty and majestic, If you ask them: ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they will surely say: ‘Allah’.’
- Imam al-Jawād replied thus when asked about the meaning of al-wāḥid (the one), saying: ‘It is the coming together of the people’s tongues on God’s unicity, as He, the mighty and majestic, said: If you ask them: ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they will surely say: ‘Allah’.’
[1] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 829.
[2] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 829; Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān (Shaykh Karbāsī), 6/262.
[3] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 912; Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān (Shaykh Karbāsī), 6/262.
[4] Munyah, 21/146.
[5] Munyah, 21/146.
[6] Munyah, 21/147.
[7] Safi, 4/150; Munyah, 21/147.
[8] Tibyan, 8/283; Tabrisi, 8/502.
[9] Munyah, 21/147.
[10] Safi, 4/150; Mizan, 16/240.
[11] Safi, 4/150.