An-Najm · Makki · ayah 45 of 62

An-Najm 53:45

وَأَنَّهُۥ خَلَقَ ٱلزَّوْجَيْنِ ٱلذَّكَرَ وَٱلْأُنثَىٰ

“And that He creates the two mates - the male and female -”

Saheeh International

Essence

From one small beginning He makes two different kinds, male and female, each the counterpart of the other, by choice and not by accident.

A reflection

The word that went missing

A man updates his online profile on a Sunday evening. Under work he types: 'Built a team of forty. Doubled revenue in three years.' Under family he types: 'Blessed with two daughters.' He does not notice the shift in his own language. For the revenue, he says built. For his daughters, blessed.

This ayah contains a quiet lesson about exactly that shift. In the ayat around it, Allah's acts come with an emphatic huwa, He. It is He who made laugh and weep; it is He who caused death and life. Here the word drops away. Wa-annahu khalaqa al-zawjayn: and that He created the two kinds. Just 'He created', with no extra stress.

One classical commentator explained why. The emphasis appears, he said, wherever human beings are tempted to claim the act for themselves. People think they cause their own laughter. A king once boasted that he gave life and death. People believed their wealth came from their own skill, as Qarun said: 'I was given it only because of knowledge I have' (28:78). So in those places the ayah insists: He. But no one imagines that a human being decides whether a drop becomes a son or a daughter. There, the plain statement is enough.

Read that way, the emphatic huwa becomes a map of human pride. It marks the places where we most need correcting. Nobody needs reminding that they did not choose their child's sex. Plenty of us need reminding that we did not truly author our success.

So look at the man's profile again. He is already humble about his daughters. The ayah would have him bring the same humility across the page. The revenue was given too. The team of forty were sent to him. The ego shrinks a little, and the profile becomes more honest.

A good test for any of us follows. Where would Allah need to say it is He to me, because I keep saying it is me?

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.