Az-Zumar · Makki · ayah 4 of 75

Az-Zumar 39:4

لَّوْ أَرَادَ ٱللَّهُ أَن يَتَّخِذَ وَلَدًا لَّٱصْطَفَىٰ مِمَّا يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ ۚ سُبْحَـٰنَهُۥ ۖ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْوَٰحِدُ ٱلْقَهَّارُ

“If Allāh had intended to take a son, He could have chosen from what He creates whatever He willed. Exalted is He; He is Allāh, the One, the Prevailing.[1340]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Choosing is not fathering: the One who prevails over all things has servants He selects, never a son who shares His being.

A reflection

No relatives in the throne room

The ayah ends with a cluster of names: Glory be to Him; He is Allah, the One, the Prevailing. Al-Qahhār is an intensive form from a root that means prevailing from above. The lexicons give the image of a force the thing beneath it cannot resist, working on it until it yields.

One commentary draws out what this does to the idea of a divine family. He is the One whom everything serves. Had He a son, that son would not be His servant. But all things are His property. So how could He have a son, when there is nothing that is not already His, and bowing before Him?

There is something in human nature that wants a back door into rank. Picture a man at a wedding who manages, in every conversation, to mention that he is related to the minister. He did not earn a post. He wants to borrow standing through blood.

People have tried to do this with heaven too. Make the angels daughters of God, the Makkans said. Then their own idols, images of those daughters, would be family. Family gets a hearing that servants do not.

The ayah closes that door with one word, al-Qahhār. In His presence there are no relatives, only servants. The angels, the prophets, the stars, the most righteous person you have ever met: all stand on the same side of the line, bowing. That shrinks every human pride built on lineage, tribe or closeness to the powerful. Nobody stands nearer to Him by birth.

And the sceptic's charge of self-praise does not fit. Saying 'there are no relatives here' does not puff Him up. It removes a false ladder that would have let some creatures climb over others.

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.