Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 47 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:47

قَالَتْ رَبِّ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِى وَلَدٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِى بَشَرٌ ۖ قَالَ كَذَٰلِكِ ٱللَّهُ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ ۚ إِذَا قَضَىٰٓ أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ

“She said, "My Lord, how will I have a child when no man has touched me?" [The angel] said, "Such is Allāh; He creates what He wills. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, 'Be,' and it is.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Maryam asked how she could have a child untouched by any man; the answer: Allah creates what He wills, saying only 'Be', and it is.

A reflection

Six years, or one word

In a vast hangar, thousands of engineers spend six years building a single new aircraft. Every bolt is specified, every weld inspected. When it finally flies, the team rightly celebrate one of the great achievements of human making.

Set that beside the end of this ayah. 'When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, "Be", and it is.' A classical commentator stresses the speed. Nothing is delayed; the thing exists immediately after the command, like the blink of an eye (54:50).

The lexicons picture qaḍāʾ, decree, as a master smith finishing close-woven coats of mail, or a debt paid in full. A decree is a thing brought to its end. And kun, 'be', comes from the root of coming into being: a thing arriving in existence and settling there.

Here the ego of human making is put in its place. Our greatest creations take armies of people and years of effort, and depend on materials we did not make. Allah's creating needs no material, no team and no delay. A major early commentator draws out what this means for Maryam. Allah gives a child to whom He wills, with a man or without one. He withholds one from whom He wills, even from a woman with a husband. Nothing is hard for Him to create.

This is not a reason to despise human skill. It is a reason to hold it humbly. The engineers did not make the metal, the air that lifts the wings, or the minds that solved the problems.

Does Allah need to tell us how easily He creates? He needs nothing (35:15). We need to hear it, especially when we stand, like Maryam, before something we cannot explain. The aircraft took six years. The child in her womb took a word.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.