Ash-Shuraa · Makki · ayah 11 of 53

Ash-Shuraa 42:11

فَاطِرُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًا وَمِنَ ٱلْأَنْعَـٰمِ أَزْوَٰجًا ۖ يَذْرَؤُكُمْ فِيهِ ۚ لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِۦ شَىْءٌ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ

“[He is] Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you from yourselves, mates, and among the cattle, mates; He multiplies you thereby. There is nothing like unto Him,[1411] and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.[1412]”

Saheeh International

Essence

The One who split the heavens into being and multiplies us in pairs is like nothing at all, yet He hears and sees everything.

A reflection

The ride that would not go on the leaderboard

Laysa ka-mithlihi shayʾ: there is nothing like Him. The commentaries explain it in the plainest terms. He has no equal and no peer. Nothing among His creatures resembles Him, whether in His essence, His names, His attributes or His actions.

The human ego lives by comparison. We rank everything: salaries, houses, children's grades, followers. Almost nothing we value escapes a league table. And sooner or later we do the same to God. We picture Him as a bigger version of what we know: a stronger king, a wiser father, a stricter judge. The ayah shuts that door completely. Whatever you can compare, He is not.

Picture a keen cyclist who logs every ride on an app that ranks her against strangers. One summer she climbs a mountain pass before dawn. At the top, the sun comes up over a sea of cloud. Out of habit she reaches for her phone to record her time. Then she stops. There is nothing to compare this with. For a few minutes she simply stands there, small and quiet.

If a sunrise can break the habit of ranking, what of its Maker? One classical scholar noted that this line comes in a passage about people who took other protectors besides Allah (42:6, 42:9). Idolatry begins by treating created things as if they were like Him, worthy of the reliance and awe that belong to Him alone. "Nothing is like Him" is the answer to that whole mistake.

The ego shrinks here, not by being insulted, but by losing its measuring stick. You cannot climb His ladder, because He is not on one.

Some ask why God needs to declare Himself incomparable. Does He need to stand above us? He needs nothing. The declaration is for us. Without it we would keep shrinking Him to our size, and then wonder why such a God could not carry our burdens. Knowing that nothing is like Him is what makes it safe to lean your whole weight on Him.

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.