Az-Zukhruf · Makki · ayah 87 of 89

Az-Zukhruf 43:87

وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّنْ خَلَقَهُمْ لَيَقُولُنَّ ٱللَّهُ ۖ فَأَنَّىٰ يُؤْفَكُونَ

“And if you asked them[1454] who created them, they would surely say, "Allāh." So how are they deluded?”

Saheeh International

Essence

Ask them who made them and they will say Allah; so how are they turned upside down, away from the One they admit made them?

A reflection

You did not make yourself

Wa-la-in saʾaltahum man khalaqahum la-yaqūlunna Allāh. And if you asked them who created them, they would surely say: Allah.

The ayah records a striking fact about the Makkans. They did not deny that Allah created them. Their idols were not credited with making anyone. When asked directly, they gave the right answer.

The root kh-l-q has a craftsman's picture behind it. A leatherworker spreads a hide before him and, before a single cut, measures it: this much for a water-skin, this much for a boot. That measuring is khalq, the first meaning of the root. From measuring comes making to a measure. An old line of praise says: you cut what you have measured, while others measure and never cut.

To be makhlūq, created, is to have been measured and then made. Every human being is a measured thing. Our height, our lifespan, our gifts, even our limits, were set by Someone else.

That should humble the ego at its roots. We like to think of ourselves as the authors of our lives. But no one measured their own bones or chose their own heartbeat.

Picture a builder in his forties, proud of his strength, who breaks his shin falling from a ladder. Eight weeks later the consultant puts two X-rays side by side: the clean break, and the same bone now knitted solid. 'Your body did that,' the consultant says. The builder looks for a long time. He did nothing but rest. Something in him was measured to mend, and it mended without asking him.

Does Allah need us to admit that He created us? No. He is the Creator whether we acknowledge it or not. The admission is for us: it is the first true sentence about ourselves, and every other true sentence follows from it.

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.